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PARKE

a serious vintage served by the most knowledgeable
of wine-w, liters.'

|ohn Ray, Times Literary Supplement

Howard Carter, by his brother William Carter, 1924

HOWARD CARTER

The Path to Tutankhamun

T.G.H. JAMES

TAURIS PARKE PAPERBACKS

LONDON • NEW YORK

Revised paperback edition published by Tauris Parke Paperbacks
an imprint of I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd

Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1B 4DZ
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Website: http://www.ibtauris.com

In the United States and Canada distributed by St. Martin’s Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010

First published in 1992 by Kegan Paul International Ltd

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or
any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.

ISBN 1 86064 615 8

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of
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Library of Congress catalog card: available

Typeset in Garamond by The Midlands Book Typesetting Company,
Loughborough

Printed and bound in Great Britain

For

ANNE PEMBERTON
and

in memory of
JOHN CARTER

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CONTENTS

Preface to the second edition
Preface to the first edition

Early years

Egypt: the beginnings

Consolidation and diversification

Chief Inspector

The Saqqara affair

Crisis and resolution

Five years’ explorations at Thebes

Royal tombs and the Great War

The Valley of the Kings and discovery

The Antechamber

The Burial Chamber and death

The spirit of mischief

America and improving prospects

The royal body, with reverence

A long and steady plod

Non-fulfilment and decline

Appendixes

I Letter from M. Jouveau to M. Maspero

II The Earl of Carnarvon’s permit to excavate

III The Earl of Carnarvon’s account of the opening

IV The Times agreement
Addenda

Sources and Bibliography
Index

vii

MAPS

1 Egypt

xvi

2 The Theban Necropolis

167

3 The Tomb of Tutankhamun

258

ILLUSTRATIONS

Frontispiece Howard Carter, by his brother William Carter, 1924 ( courtesy
Griffith Institute)

1 Samuel John Carter ( courtesy Swaffham Museum)

2 Martha Joyce Carter, drawn by William Carter, 1884 {courtesy John Carter)

3 William Carter, a self-portrait when young {courtesy Julia Rushbury)

4 Howard Carter, drawn by William Carter, c. 1884 {courtesy John Carter)

5 The Sporle Road cottage, Swaffham {courtesy Diana James)

6 Howard Carter as a young man {courtey Eastern Daily Press)

7 Howard Carter supervises work at Deir el-Bahri, c. 1893 — 4 {courtey Egypt
Exploration Society)

8 Howard Carter, Percy Newberry, Edouard Naville and servants in front of
the expedition house, Deir el-Bahri, c. 1896 {courtesy John Carter)

9 Carter’s original drawing of a scene in the Deir el-Bahri temple showing the
cow of Hathor suckling Hatshepsut ( courtesy Griffith Institute)

10 Tea on the terrace of the Luxor Hotel, 1903 — 4 {courtesy John Carter)

1 1 Studio portrait of Howard Carter, 1902 — 4 {courtesy John Carter)

12 Castle Carter at Medinet Habu, Western Thebes. Carter relaxes with a
friend, his horse Sultan and one of his pet gazelles {courtesy ]ohn Carter)

13 A letter to Carter’s mother. The inserted photographs show the Edfu
Temple and scenes in and around Castle Carter {courtey John Carter)

14 and 15 On holiday in 1902: left, with his sister Amy Walker and family
members on a picnic; right in braces on a bicycle {courtey Swaffham
Museum)

16 Howard Carter, Chief Inspector of Upper Egypt, with Percy Newberry
and Robb de Peyster Tytus at the Palace of Amenophis III, 1 902 {courtey
British Museum)

1 7 Howard Carter, Chief Inspector of Lower Egypt, in the stable-yard of the
Mena House Hotel, Giza, with the Great Pyramid in the background, 1 905
{courtey John Carter)

ILLUSTRATIONS

18 Castle Carter at Elwat el-Diban, built 1911. Phyllis Walker notes (1930):
left window, dining room - right, UH’s [Uncle Howard’s] room, middle
window, spare room, extreme left kitchen and servant quarters. The rest is
desert!’ {courtesy John Carter)

19 Carter with an unidentified visitor inspects a find at Balamun, 1913 {courtesy
Griffith Institute)

20 One of Carter’s drawings of the Opet Festival reliefs in the Luxor Temple
{courtesy Griffith Institute)

21 The 5th Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter, photographed 18
February 1923 by Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians {courtesy Fondation
Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth)

22 Carter conducts the Tutankhamun ‘mannequin’ from the tomb; the Earl of
Carnarvon sits on the wall, and to his right, behind, is Arthur Weigall {cour-
tesy Griffith Institute)

23 The first Ford ‘in the desert’, outside Castle Carter, 1923. From left. Carter,
chauffeur, Mace, Burton, Lucas ( courtesy Margaret Orr)

24 Blocked entrance to the burial chamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb, showing
the basket-work concealing the intruder’s hole and subsequent reblocking
{courtesy Griffith Institute)

25 Carter’s team prepare for the day’s sortie into the Valley: from left , Alfred
Lucas, Arthur Callender, Carter, Arthur Mace ( courtesy Margaret Orr)

26 The Press Corps advance to battle up the Valley; Arthur Weigall on the
right ( courtesy Griffith Institute)

27 A convoy of cases containing Tutankhamun objects makes its way to the
river en route for Cairo {courtesy Griffith Institute)

28 Percy White at Ludlow, 1930 {courtesy John Carter)

29 Carter with his niece Phyllis Walker, c. 1931 ( courtesy John Carter)

30 The study at 2, Prince’s Gate Court, 1934 {courtesy John Carter)

31 Studio photograph of Carter, c. 1930 {courtesy John Carter)

32 Carter at the lectern, c. 1934 {courtesy John Carter)

33 A formal dinner in Stockholm, May 1930. From left. Consul-General J.
Sachs, Mrs Helling, Carter, Mrs Bostrom, Admiral Iindberg {courtesy John
Carter)

34 Howard Carter with the Crown Prince of Sweden and ADC on board the
SS Ausonia, bound for Egypt, September 1930 {courtesy John Carter)

35 Carter with the Egyptian Queen Mother and entourage in the Valley,
c. 1932 {courtesy John Carter)

36 Carter with King Farouk in the Valley, 1936 {courtesy John Carter)

37 Letter of condolence written by Howard Carter’s house servants to Phyllis
Walker {courtesy John Carter)

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION

This paperback edition has provided the opportunity for the correction
of many small errors in the original printing of this book. In making
these corrections I have greatly benefited from the sharp-eye reading of
John Larson, Museum Archivist of the Oriental Institute of tire Univer-
sity of Chicago. Other small corrections and changes have been made
throughout the book, but the few new discoveries and reinterpretations
have been collected into the addenda at the end of the volume.

The locations of some of the private collections of Carter papers have
changed in the recent past. John Carter, the holder of the bulk of the
Howard Carter papers in private hands, died in December 1999, and his
collection has passed to his son Jonathan, who will retain the material in
the Carter family. Margaret Orr, who held the important Mace papers,
also died at the turn of the millennium; the future of these papers has not
yet been decided. The Amherst papers, formerly in the possession of
Terry Eva, are now owned by Dr Bob Brier of Long Island University.
To Dr Brier I owe a debt of gratitude for drawing my attention to the
letters from Howard Carter to Mrs Kingsmill Marrs in the Massachusetts
Historical Society, and to Sharon DeLeskey of that institution for tracing
the Marrs watercolours to the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts. I
am also grateful to Angela Gillespie for investigating the source of the
Bretby bricks used apparently in the building of Carter’s house at Thebes.

Jonathan McDonnell and his colleagues at I.B.Tauris I especially thank
for providing the opportunity for extending the life of this book, and for
handling the new edition without pain to the author.

T.G.H. James

PREFACE

TO THE FIRST EDITION

For someone like myself, who grew up before the Second World War, and
became a professional Egyptologist after the war, Tutankhamun and
Howard Carter have been constant symbols of the popular appeal of Egypt;
although for much of the time it would have been thought slighdy de trop to
show professionally too active an interest in them. The great Tutankhamun
exhibition of 1972 in London, masterminded by Dr I. E. S. Edwards, not
only stimulated unprecedented curiosity in the tomb, its contents and its
discoverers, but also obliged many specialists to reconsider the extraordinary
achievement of Howard Carter in the management of the discovery. I did
not myself appreciate the extent to which I had become, almost subliminally,
engaged in the career of this man, until I was approached by Anne
Pemberton about the preparation of a biography. In her I was confronted by
a true Carter enthusiast who already had, to a far greater extent than myself,
a broad understanding of the many aspects of her hero’s accomplishments.
She certainly stimulated my interest to the point when a Carter biography
seemed the natural task to take up in retirement. It is therefore most proper
that this book should be dedicated to her. I am profoundly grateful to her
for starting me on a remarkable quest, and for regular support over the
years. I am only marginally less indebted to her husband Jeremy Pemberton,
whose help in many matters - not least in providing the inspiration for the
book’s dust jacket - has been a sustaining factor throughout.

Anne Pemberton’s happy approach was but the beginning of several
years’ search and research of a kind I had never undertaken before, in the
course of which I received help and stimulation from a wide range of
friends, colleagues, private owners of documents, officials in public and
private archives, and others who by personal knowledge or family
connections were able to point me in productive directions.

Of those who knew Howard Carter personally, I recall with special
affection Cyril Aldred, with whom I spoke on a number of occasions
before his sad death in 1991, about his meetings with Carter in the early
1930s and of his life-long interest in the great discovery. Margaret Orr,
who entertained Carter at a dolls’ tea-party in 1 924, entertained me more
recently with her memories, and most generously allowed me to see and
use the letters and other papers of her father and mother, Arthur and
Winifred Mace. Dr Harold Plenderleith shared with me his own recollec-
tions of working on specimens from die tomb of Tutankhamun in Thebes
and London, and of his many meetings with Carter in the late 1 920s.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Mr Terry Eva, with ready liberality, has allowed me to quote from the
Amherst letters in his possession. Mrs Stanley Chattey has been equally
generous with the surviving volumes of Alicia Amherst’s journal. The
Earl of Carnarvon has from the outset shown great interest in what I
have been doing, and has readily allowed me to quote from the few
surviving papers at Highclere.

From the Carter family I am especially indebted to John Carter, who
made freely available the considerable papers formerly in the possession
of Phyllis Walker. Mr Benjamin Ripper, another cousin by descent and
the native historian of Swaffham, readily shared family and local memo-
ries and also introduced me to Ivy Wilson who, as a little girl, ran errands
for Howard Carter’s mother and aunts at the Sporle Road Cottage.

Minnie Burton’s diary, providentially brought to my attention by
Rosalind Berwald, who acquired it some years ago, provides fascinating
information about the social life in Thebes during the years of discovery.
I greatly appreciate Mrs Berwald’s willingness to allow me to quote from
it. To Philippa Moore and Vronwy Hankey I am grateful for the chance
to see and make use of some of the letters of Arthur Weigall, Mrs
Moore’s father. Margaret Gardiner equally generously let me see and
reproduce extracts from Sir Alan Gardiner’s private letters.

The help I have received in public institutions, museums and archives
has invariably been unstinted. In the Department of Egyptian Art in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dr Dorothea Arnold has been exception-
ally kind in making material available from the rich holdings of Carter
and associated papers, and I have also received particular assistance from
Dr Christine Lilyquist, Marsha Hill (who has very kindly checked so
many quotations) and Dr Catherine Roehrig. In Chicago I was greeted
most warmly by the former and present Directors of the Oriental Insti-
tute, Dr Janet Johnson and Dr William Sumner, and given most creative
help by John Larson, the archivist of tire Oriental Institute Museum,
whose contributions to this biography are many and various. In the
Cleveland Museum of Art the Director, Dr Evan Turner, the Curator of
Ancient Art, Dr Arielle Kozloff, and the Archivist, Virginia Krumholz,
were more than liberal in their help. In distant Portland, Mr Thomas
Vaughan, former Director of the Oregon Historical Society, most gener-
ously made the facilities of his remarkably well organized institution
available to me, with the assistance of his Associate Director Millard
McClung, and Chief Librarian Louis Flannery. From the Detroit Institute
of Arts, Dr William Peck readily provided information and copies of
documents on request; as did Julie Bledsloe, Registrar of the Biltmore
Estate, to which source I was generously directed by the late James
Manning. Dr Rita Freed, of the Department of Egyptian and Ancient
Near Eastern Art in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, was characteristi-
cally helpful; so too my colleagues at the British Museum, Terence

xiii

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Mitchell and Dr John Curtis, former and present Keepers of Western
Asiatic Antiquities, and Marjorie Caygill in the Director’s Office.

In my old Department of Egyptian Antiquities the present Keeper,
Vivian Davies, and his staff have invariably been welcoming and helpful,
making the library and other facilities of the department always available.
Nicholas Reeves, formerly of the Egyptian Department, with his deep
knowledge of the Valley of the Kings and the whole industry of
Tutankhamun studies, has been a constant and willing source of refer-
ence, and a sounding-board for ideas. David Butters, Curator of the
Swaffham Museum, who organized two very interesting Carter exhibi-
tions in 1989, has been a regularly ally in the provision and checking of
Norfolk information.

My very special thanks must be extended to the Committee of
Management of the Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford,
where the principal Carter archive is housed; and in the Institute particu-
larly to Dr Jaromir Malek, the Archivist, for so much positive help, for
seeming always to be on hand and ready to discuss a matter, to Dr Diana
Magee, Fiona Strachan and Elizabeth Miles, for answering so many
enquiries and for opening and shutting cupboards and lifting down
awkward bundles of drawings on many visits to Oxford. Also in Oxford,
I am grateful to Dr Derek Hopwood, Director of the Middle East Centre
in St Antony’s College, and Diana Ring, its librarian, for giving me access
to the journals of Mervyn Herbert. To them and to the present Mervyn
Herbert I am grateful for permission to use extracts in this book.

In London, the Committee of the Egypt Exploration Society has
allowed me to search the early papers in its archives for Carter material;
Dr Patricia Spencer, the Secretary, and her assistant Sylvie Weens, have
been invariably helpful. The Directors of News International PLC,
through their Deputy Archivist, Eamon Dyas, have generously provided
me with photocopies of documents, and allowed me to reproduce the
text of the agreement made in 1923 between The Times and the Earl of
Carnarvon. In Geneva I owe a special debt of gratitude to Professor
Michel Valloggia for searching out and obtaining copies of Carter, Naville
and Maspero correspondence in the Bibliotheque publique et universi-
taire in that city, and to that institution for allowing me to quote from
these documents; and also to Professor Denis van Berchem, a grandson
of Edouard Naville, for showing much interest and encouragement.

To the governing bodies of all the institutions mentioned above, I am
grateful for permission to quote from the relevant documents in their
possession.

There are many others to whom I owe thanks for additional, occa-
sional, and peripheral material, which has helped to enrich and diversify
my narrative: Francis Allen, N. G. Stafford Allen, Mrs Elizabeth Reeves
and Antony Allen (for information on Carter and the Allens of Cockley
Cley), Margaret S. Drower (for help with Petrie information), Dr Andrew

xiv

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Gordon (for an early Carter letter), Robert Keedick (for a copy of his
father’s recollections of Carter’s American tour), Jean Kennedy (for infor-
mation on holdings in the Norfolk Record Office), Dr Christopher Lee
(for Mace information), Deirdre Le Faye (for Carter’s association with the
Lucovich family), Arpag Mekhitarian (for copies of documents and
photographs on Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians, Jean Capart and
Carter), Dr Peter Piccione (for investigating bricks at Elwat el-Diban),
Julia Rushbury (for memories of William Carter), Dr Gerry Scott (for
material on Carter’s Yale degree), Professor A. F. Shore (for a letter from
Carnarvon to A. M. Blackman), Professor W T. Stearn (on the botanical
activities of Alicia Amherst and P. E. Newberry), Edna S. Weiss (for
records of Carters at the Royal Academy Schools, and in the RA Summer
Exhibitions), P. M. White (on Bretby bricks), Finbarr Whooley (for back-
ground material on the British Empire Exhibition of 1924), Irma
Wilkinson (for access to the papers of Charles Wilkinson and for general
encouragement) .

In an early stage in the writing of this volume I receive invaluable help
from Annette Webb, Secretary of die Institute of Egyptian Art and
Archaeology at Memphis State University, who performed marvels of
decipherment. To my former colleague, Christine Barratt, I am indebted
for the maps and plan. To my editor, Carol Gardiner, go special thanks
for eliminating so many inconsistencies, removing so many infelicities,
and generally for giving this book a professional finish.

Readers should not be disconcerted by variations in the spelling of
proper names, particularly ancient royal names. The variations reflect
differing traditions of vocalizing the unvocalized ancient forms. In the
case of Tutankhamun the variations are many, and are retained in quota-
tions; for most scholars in Britain the form above is commonly used.

The ancient dates used in this volume generally follow those given in J.
Baines andj. Malek, Atlas of Ancient Egypt.

The kindness I have been shown in so many places has, in my experi-
ence, been exceptional, and I have the happiest memories of hospitable
stays with friends and colleagues during a search which began simply,
and expanded enormously over the years. But no one has been more
kind and forbearing than my wife Diana, and my son Stephen, who have
at all times helped me with my research, and have latterly endured many
months of aggrandizement in the use of space at home, and of time in
general.

London, January 1 992 T.G.H. James

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

xvi

EARLY YEARS

A sad, small company gathered at Putney Vale Cemetery in South London
on 6 March 1939 to say ‘Farewell!’ to Howard Carter. It was not the kind
of gathering which commonly attends the obsequies of the great and
famous, but it yet offered, in modest scale, a fair representation of the
various parts of the life of one who had in his time achieved remarkable
popular esteem. The ‘great Egyptologist’, as The Times obituary appropri-
ately called him, ‘who gained fame for his part in one of die most
successful and exciting episodes in the annals of archaeology, the discovery
and exploration of the tomb of Tutankhamen’, had died in relative obscu-
rity, his ultimate purposes unfulfilled, his real achievements uncrowned by
official recognition. 1 He had been born to a life of moderate expectation;
he ended his life with none of the pomp and splendour with which he had
become familiar in the mortuary ceremonies and paraphernalia of the
monarchs of Egypt in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. And yet his life
had been one of greater success than most can expect, and its elements
were recognized among the few who listened to the words of the Revd H.
C. Kemp, Vicar of Putney, on that grey day. To represent his family there
were his brother William, a fine portrait painter, and his nephew Samuel
John, an engineer and bearer of traditional Carter names; there was Lady
Evelyn Beauchamp, daughter of the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, who had
accompanied her father in the early, heady, days of the opening of the
famous tomb; there was Gerald Wainwright, a former colleague from the
ranks of excavators in Egypt. George Eumorfopoulos, a great collector of
oriental and Egyptian works of art, in a sense represented those whom
Howard Carter had helped in their collecting in his later years.

1 The Times for 3 March 1939; the obituary almost certainly written by R E. Newberry.

The account of the funeral was in the issue of 7 March.

HOWARD CARTER

If Howard Carter had made preparations well in advance of his death,
as the ancient Egyptians had regularly done, he would almost certainly
have caused incorrect details to be recorded on his grave-stone. ‘It is
strange Carter did not know his age - I am all too conscious of mine,’
commented Alan Gardiner to Percy Newberry in 1945. 2 This strange
ignorance had been revealed by Carter’s niece, Phyllis Walker, who had
discovered from a scrutiny of her uncle’s birth-certificate that he was
born on 9 May 1874, and not in 1873 as he had stated in his annual
entries in Who's Who since 1924. It was an error perpetuated in the
various obituaries which were written after his death, even in those
composed by his old friend Percy Newberry. There is no need to think
that Carter had any strange motive for falsifying his age - indeed ‘falsify’
is surely the wrong word to use. What advantage could be achieved by
adding one year to one’s proper age? Presumably he confused the year at
a fairly early stage in his career and the error persisted, fixed in his mind
as being correct. He lived, it must be conceded, at a time when form-
filling and documentary verification were not as prevalent as they have
since become. It would be scarcely worth while drawing attention to
Carter’s error were it not symptomatic of much that he subsequently
wrote, in which precision of detail was not of primary importance. He
composed in later life a number of autobiographical sketches of consid-
erable charm, but unfortunately so full of errors and inconsistencies —
where precision can be secured from more reliable sources - that they
can be taken only as rough guides to his career. 3 They remain, neverthe-
less, very interesting, if only because they are rightly flavoured with his
own brand of personal romance and are studded with comments and
reflections which illuminate his attitudes to a wide variety of topics.
Some of these were crucial to his whole life — his remarks on drawing
and epigraphy, for example — while others preserve his mature views
often expressed anachronistical^, as if formulated by himself when a
youth or young man. His chronological errors tend to be more tiresome
than significant, but for a biographer they are very vexing and often
time-consuming in their explication. A good example concerns his
father’s death in 1 892. In his late sketch he describes a visit he made with

2 Letter of Alan Gardiner to Percy Newberry of 1 March 1945; G.I. Newberry Corr. 18/ 133.

3 A set of versions of the sketches is in the Griffith Institute, Carter Notebooks 15—17; a
further set in the possession of Jonathan Carter; other versions in the Metropolitan
Museum, Egyptian Department. Sketch II, An Account of Myself’, is in G.I. Carter
Notebook 15.

EARLY YEARS

Flinders Petrie to see the recendy discovered tomb of Akhenaten at Eh
Amarna. From Petrie’s contemporary diary the visit can be fixed fairly
precisely to about 21 January 1892. 4 In his sketch Howard Carter notes
that ‘the next morning brought one of those sad days which usher in
another phase of life’. A cable and a letter arrived announcing his father’s
death. His father actually died on 1 May 1892. Again the error is of little
significance, but it does point to the unreliability of the sketches as
primary historical documents.

In one matter, however, the sketch of his early life preserved in the
Griffith Institute in Oxford is correct against other published sources.
The Who’s Who entries record that Carter was born in Swaffham,
Norfolk. This might be described as his ‘official’ statement, for a Who’s
Who entry is composed by the person concerned. In his sketch he states:
‘I was born in the early seventies at my father’s town house in Earl’s
Court.’ The mention of Swaffham in Who’s Who is another harmless
error which may represent a kind of inverted snobbism not now easily
comprehended. Swaffham was certainly a place of importance, and prob-
ably of emotional attachment, for Carter throughout his life. It seems
altogether unlikely that he had forgotten his birthplace when he first
compiled his Who's Who entry, but at the time - not long after the
discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamun — he may have felt it neces-
sary to dignify Iris origins. Swaffham suggested a good country base;
Earl’s Court, or Brompton as it might more properly be described, has
less comfortable associations. But the reason for the error might have
been something quite different; yet it is strange that he allowed it to
persist (like that of his birth date) in all entries down to his death.

So, as his birth certificate confirms, Howard Carter was born on 9 May
1874, at 10 Rich Terrace in the sub-district of Brompton in Kensington.
Rich Terrace no longer exists. It occupied part of the north side of the
Old Brompton Road to the west of the junction with Earl’s Court Road,
and the site is now filled by Richmond Mansions, 248-250 Old
Brompton Road. Rich Lane, originally perhaps a kind of mews or service
road for Rich Terrace, still exists to the west of Richmond Mansions. Rich
Terrace was demolished in the 1890s, but no. 10 was recorded in the local
directory as standing as late as 1892, the year of Howard Carter’s father’s
death.” ‘My father’s town house’ is Carter’s description of what was

4 See p. 38 below.

5 Information on Rich Terrace provided by the Town Clerk of the Royal Borough of

Kensington and Chelsea, in a letter to B. Ripper of 20 June 1972.

HOWARD CARTER

certainly a fairly modest terraced house with a garden. It can scarcely
have been the property he romantically evokes as ‘this quaint old house’
with ‘a lovely garden with beautiful trees, and for the purpose of study
large pens for animals’. The house properly belonged not to Inis father
but to his mother. It is known that it was first rented by the Carter family
in 1868 from Miss Elizabeth Hall, who subsequently lived herself in 14
Rich Terrace. On her death some years later, she bequeathed all her prop-
erty to ‘Martha Joyce, wife of Samuel Carter’. 6 For practical purposes,
however, Samuel would have acted as the house owner.

Samuel John and Martha Joyce (nee Sands), Howard Carter’s father
and mother, were both natives of Swaffham in south-west Norfolk, a
small but thriving market-town on the road from King’s Lynn to
Norwich. Its appearance in the late twentieth century - at least as far as
its heart, the Market Place, and its surrounds, is concerned - differs little
from what the Carters would have known a century ago. Like many small
country towns in East Anglia, Swaffham presents, architecturally, a mixed
face, mostly of stone and brick, and of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. The obligatory, but tiny, shopping ‘mall’ of recent years is
discreetly tucked away on the west side of the Square, and most of the
remaining additions and modifications of the late twentieth century do
little to disturb the settled, comfortable aspect of the whole. Cars have
replaced carts, and they fill the Square except on market days when the
town reasserts its essential character as a place for buying and selling for
the surrounding district, and a centre for general and domestic
concourse. As you enter the town from the direction of King’s Lynn, a
sharp eye will spot the brightly painted carving of the Pedlar of
Swaffham, a fifteenth-century local notable, John Chapman, ‘who did by
a dream find a great treasure’. It is the town sign, one of the many in
Norfolk designed and painted by Henry Robert (Harry) Carter, another
of the Carters of Swaffham and North Norfolk - mostly interrelated and
artistically talented — who was a distant cousin of Howard Carter. 7
Swaffham and its environs, family associations, and art, were to be
powerful influences in the development of the young man who would go
to Egypt in his late teens and ultimately make the most dramatic archaeo-
logical discovery of modern times.

6 Documents on the ownership of 10 Rich Terrace are with Jonathan Carter.

7 For Swaffham generally see B. Ripper, Ribbons from the Pedlar’s Pack (Swaffham, 1979);
for Jonathan Chapman see p. 48; for Henry Carter, p. 113. Also, David C. Butters,
Swaffham, In the Pedlar’s Footsteps (North Walsham, 1990), pp. 1—2, 28—31.

EARLY YEARS

Howard Carter’s immediate family has been traced back to a Robert
Carter, his great grand-father, who married Susanna Dunger in 1785 at
the church of St Andrew, Great Dunham, a village about five miles to the
north-east of Swaffham. At drat time the Carters lived apparently (the
sources are not certain) at Rookery Farm near Great Dunham, a place
that earns a mention in Pevsner’s The Buildings of England! 1 ' The family has
been characterized as being of yeoman stock, and such would certainly
apply to Samuel Carter, one of the sons of Robert and Susanna. He was
born in 1 792, married Frances Spinks of Swaffham in 1 832, and became
the gamekeeper and agent of Robert Hamond, the local squire and Lord
of Swaffham Manor. He lived with his family in the Keeper’s Cottage not
far from the Manor House. 9 It was here that Samuel John, Howard’s
father, was born in 1835. From an early age he showed a marked artistic
talent which was encouraged by Robert Hamond. A short sketch of the
family by Frederick Keeling-Scott, vicar of Swaffham from 1908 to 1928,
written shortly after the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, 111 states
that at the time of Samuel John’s childhood there was a school of
drawing in Swaffham supervised by John Sell Cotman, the distinguished
watercolour painter and etcher and member of the Norwich School of
artists. Samuel John is stated to have won the first prize at the school in
1845 when he was ten years old. Cotman had died in 1842, but what the
Revd Keeling-Scott reported were surely matters as they were remem-
bered by the Carter family, whom he clearly knew well. The school may
indeed have been set up by Cotman, and perhaps run after his death by
one or both of his sons, Miles Edmund and John Joseph, who were also
talented painters. Keeling-Scott further states that Samuel John was sent
to the Royal Academy Schools in London, and that he won a silver medal
in his first term. Unfortunately this connection with the Royal Academy
Schools has not been confirmed from the records of the Schools, and it
seems possible that there was some confusion in the family memory in
this matter with the early career of Samuel John’s most artistically gifted
son, William. He certainly attended the R.A. Schools from 1879, winning
prizes, including silver medals, on several occasions. 11

8 North-West and South Norfolk (1962), p. 176.

9 B. Ripper, Ribbons from the Pedlar’s Pack , p. 111.

10 Pastern Daily Press for 20 February 1923, p. 6.

11 Information provided by Edna S. Weiss of the Information Service of the Royal
Academy of Arts.

HOWARD CARTER

Whatever may be the truth about Samuel John’s early career and
training, there is no question about his later successful life as an artist,
based pardy in London and pardy in Swaffham. He specialized in
painting animals, domestic, agricultural and in the wild. For over twenty
years (1867-89) he was the principal animal illustrator for the Illustrated
ljmdon News, contributing excellent drawings of animals in nature, at
agricultural shows, and in family circumstances. He developed a consid-
erable practice in the country, painting for the gentry and nobility
charming and sometimes dramatic pictures in the high Victorian style
perhaps best exemplified in the work of Sir Edwin Landseer. Indeed,
another Carter family tradition claims that Samueljohn made the original
drawings for the great Landseer lion sculptures at the base of Nelson’s
Column in Trafalgar Square. Sentiment, in harmony with the times and
the interests of his patrons, was not avoided, ample confirmation being
found in the titles of the paintings shown by him in the annual Royal
Academy Summer Exhibitions. He had paintings accepted from 1855 (‘A
Chase’) until 1890 (‘The Biter bit’), rarely failing to have one or more
canvases included annually. The flavour of his subject-matter is well
conveyed by a selection of titles: ‘Gelert: “The gallant hound the wolf
had slain . . .” ’ (1865); ‘Rescued from the wolf’ (1866); ‘A Duel on the
Black Mount, N.B. “And ‘twere grand sight as the eagles came fighting
down the mountains . . .” ’ (1874); ‘To the rescue: Norfolk coast. “A life-
boat manned with a gallant crew . . .” ’ (1882). In 1875 John Ruskin
commented most favourably on two of the paintings by Samuel John
Carter in the Summer Exhibition. 12 On ‘The first taste’: ‘Altogether
enjoyable to me; and I am prepared to maintain (as a true lover of dogs
young and old) .... that this picture is exemplary in its choice of a
moment of supreme puppy felicity as properest time for puppy portrai-
ture’; on ‘The Little Wanderers’: ‘. . . a most pathetic and touching group
of children in the wood. You may see if you take your opera-glass to it,
that the robin is even promising to cover them with leaves, if indeed
things are to end, as seems too probable.’

The large animal pens kept in the garden at 10 Rich Terrace housed an
unspecified variety of small animals used by Samueljohn as models both

12 The Samueljohn Carter paintings are listed in Algernon Graves, The Royal Academy of
Arts. A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and their Work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904.
For Ruskin’s comments see J. Ruskin, Notes on some of the principal pictures exhibited in the
rooms of the Royal Academy (London, 1875), p. 41. I owe this last reference in the first
instance to Antony Griffiths, Keeper of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum.

EARLY YEARS

for his country paintings and for his journalistic sketches. Howard Carter
himself was early encouraged to draw animals, using no doubt the resi-
dents of those pens to practise on. He retained a very high regard for his
father’s artistic skills, and in his autobiographical sketch he says of
himself and his brothers and sister: ‘We all inherited from our father an
inborn faculty for drawing: he being an animal painter of no little fame,
and one of the most powerful draughtsmen I ever knew. His knowledge
of comparative anatomy and memory for form was [sic] matchless. He
could depict from memory, accurately, any animal in any action, fore-
shortened or otherwise, with the greatest ease.’

Samuel John Carter undoubtedly moved easily in the artistic circles of
Victorian London, and even if he never reached the highest ranks of
fame he yet was sufficiently well acquainted with those who occupied
those ranks to be able to secure the sponsorship (or recommendation) of
Sir John Everett Millais for the entry into the R.A. Schools in 1874 of his
son William, who was then just 16 years old. His familiarity with the
artistic life of the capital dated back at least to 1855 when he first exhib-
ited in the Summer Exhibition. He seems to have kept a base in London,
mostly in the King’s Road, Chelsea, or in Pimlico, until he settled at 10
Rich Terrace in 1868. By then he had been married for 10 years to
Martha Joyce, daughter of Mr Sands, a builder of Swaffham. In the
meanwhile he had also acquired a house just outside Swaffham, on the
road to the village of Sporle. This became the Carter’s ‘country residence’
where some at least of their ten sons and one daughter were born. The
Sporle Road cottage remained the Carter Swaffham home until at least
the death of Samuel John’s surviving sister in 1929. This sister, Fanny,
with her younger sister Catherine (Kate), were installed in the Swaffham
cottage, maintaining it for the London Carters who might from time to
time descend on this country residence for holidays or to pursue painting
commissions.

By the time Howard Carter, the baby of the family, was born three of
his brothers were already dead, and Howard himself was not thought to
be very robust. In consequence he was sent to Swaffham when quite
young, to be brought up by his aunts Fanny and Kate. The sketch, quoted
from time to time in this chapter, states: ‘. . . soon after my birth I was
taken in charge of a nurse to our house in Swaffham in Norfolk.’ His
mother, no doubt, was relieved not to have to bring up a weakly baby in a
London household with six other children. Howard Carter says little of
his mother in his sketch apart from remarking that she was ‘a small,

HOWARD CARTER

kindly woman’ who ‘loved luxury. A weakness also inherited by her
youngest son.’ There is no indication from the few surviving letters
addressed to her that he felt anything but affection for her, although the
ties which commonly bond sons to their mothers were probably less
strong than they might have been if he had been brought up convention-
ally by her from birth. The surviving drawing of her made by William
Carter shows her as a most sympathetic person, with a face inclined to
humour and understanding, even perhaps indulgence . 13 She might never
be quite the confidante of her son; but it was to her that he would address
the easiest and most relaxed of the family letters that have survived. He
may have been closer to his sister Amy; but the evidence is slight.

It seems likely that the young Howard spent the greater part of his
childhood and early teens in Swaffham, but again there is no escaping the
fact that the evidence is not substantial. And the same lack of evidence
applies to his education. In the Oxford version of his autobiographical
sketch he says laconically: ‘About education I have next to nothing to say.
As I was not strong, I was debarred from public school life and games.’
He enlarges on this comment in the version in the possession of Jonathan
Carter: ‘I have next to nothing to say about education. During my younger
days I was a bad herniary case, and thus I was unable to go through a
regular school training or join in sports such as other lads did and still do.’
A search of local Swaffham school records has failed to find Howard’s
name ; 14 and the mention in Who’s Who of ‘Private education (owing to
health)’ scarcely advances the matter. The most positive statement comes
in the obituary of Carter written by the British Egyptologist Guy Brunton,
who knew him well . 15 He talks of education in a dame-school, a fact that
he may well have gleaned from Carter in his later life, when he might have
been less bothered at revealing the modest nature of his schooling. Dame-
schools were in a sense the precursors of nursery and infant schools, run
usually by moderately well educated ladies, and offering little more than
simple instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic. They lay outside the
ambit of the state school system, and could be very poor or very good.
Normally they would not retain pupils over the age of about nine or ten.
The evidence of Carter’s letters written about the time he first went to
Egypt suggests that he had received a fair education as far as being able
to compose a letter; but his spelling was erratic, and his punctuation

13 In the possession of Jonathan Carter.

14 The search made by David Butters of the Swaffham Museum.

15 In A.S.A.E. 39 (1939), pp. 49-53.

EARLY YEARS

rudimentary. Of his mathematics, one can only hazard a favourable esti-
mate from the fact that Flinders Petrie, no mean practical mathematician
himself, felt able to entrust surveying and mapping to Carter while they
were working together at El-Amarna in the spring of 1892.

There remains one unspecific but intriguing clue about education
which might have occurred in the years following Howard Carter’s attend-
ance at the putative dame-school. The late Mr Nigel Allen, who latterly
lived in Guernsey, has written that Iris father, Mr Francis Allen, ‘financed
much of Howard Carter’s education at Swaffham, and actually sent him
on his first expedition to Egypt’. 15 Mr Allen’s English home was Cockley
Cley Hall in Norfolk, about 3 V 2 miles to the south of Swaffham. From a
distance, Cockley Cley Hall today gives the impression of being a mansion
of considerable age, red-brick, possibly of the eighteenth century, remod-
elled in the nineteenth century. It was in fact built in the early 1870s in a
kind of Victorian Italianate style, finely conceived for its setting. It would
therefore have been brand-new when Howard Carter was young, and it
may be wondered how this boy, living in relatively modest circumstances
in Swaffham, might have come to the attention of Mr Francis Allen,
master of Cockley Cley Hall. It is strange that no mention of the Allens
occurs in any Carter papers which have been available for consultation;
nowhere, in published or unpublished sources, did Howard Carter give
any credit to Mr Allen for his education or for his first visit to Egypt. On
the latter point, it will soon be seen that another local county family has
always been considered responsible for Carter’s first visit to Egypt, a
claim for which there is good evidence. Yet, there is some evidence that
he at least knew the Allens and may have felt indebted to them. Mr Nigel
Allen stated: ‘I remember Carter very well, though at the time I was only a
boy, as he came to luncheon at Cockley Cley immediately after his return
from his discovery in Egypt of Tutankhamen’s tomb and reported his
find to my father at length and in great detail. This of course is something
which nobody could forget, and I remember pretty well every word that
Carter said.’ Other members of the Allen family have confirmed the
essential details of Nigel Allen’s letter, emphasizing the strong Egyptian
interests of Mr Francis Allen. He had lived, it seems, for most of his
working life in Egypt, with a house at Ramla, a fashionable suburb of
Alexandria in the late nineteenth century. He left Egypt early in the twen-
tieth century, when he was about 50, but he retained business interests in
the country, and, according to members of the family, spoke often of

16 Letter of 11 April 1972 in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities, British Museum.

HOWARD CARTER

Carter, suggesting that he had at various times helped him. The most
specific memory now offered comes from Elizabeth Reeves, a grand-
daughter of Francis Allen, who recalls the same luncheon-party: ‘I can
remember him and his companion arriving rather early and the butler
bringing him down to the tennis court where we were playing, and my
step grandmother who was with us taking him back into the house. Later
we had lunch together and then I saw no more of him.’ 1

Without further evidence it is difficult to pursue this connection with
the Allens of Cockley Cley, but it could be suggested that Howard Carter
may have been brought to Cockley Cley by Samuel John Carter on more
than one occasion if his father had been engaged by Francis Allen to
paint pictures for him. From other evidence it is clear that the young
Carter impressed people with his artistic talent, and even his personality.
It was certainly so with the Amhersts of Didlington with whom he
retained close relations from childhood onwards. In the relative isolation
of Cockley Cley Mr Allen may have engaged tutors for Iris own children
and offered to allow Howard Carter to participate in some of the lessons.
He may equally have made some similar arrangement for him in
Swaffham itself. Further speculation might be thought unprofitable.

Samuel John Carter divided his time between London where work for
the Illustrated "London News occupied him, and Swaffham, the base for his
country practice, where he carried out commissions for the local gentry
and land-owners. The Swaffham practice necessitated trips around the
countryside, visits to great houses, the painting of prize farm animals, of
cherished hunters, of family groups. On such trips he may often have
been accompanied by his youngest son, Howard. It might have been
seen as a part of his training for the future. In his autobiographical sketch
Howard Carter explains that ‘the necessity to earn my living from the age
of fifteen, made me follow up the study of drawing and painting.’ In this
study his best instructor was his father, but he was surely able to learn
much also from his brothers Samuel, Vernet and William and his sister
Amy, all of whom made their professions in painting and the allied arts.
It is to his father, however, that he gave the credit for his training as a
draughtsman in particular — the skills of eye and pencil — which ulti-
mately led to his going to Egypt. From his earliest years he also fell in
love with natural history, the observation of insects and birds, and greatly
enjoyed the chance to neglect his studies and make expeditions into the

17 I owe this information to Mr Francis Allen, and additionally to Mr N. G. Stafford
Allen, Mrs Elizabeth Reeves, and Mr Antony Allen.

EARLY YEARS

countryside. Among the places which he most probably first visited with
his father was Didlington Hall, about eight miles to the south of
Swaffham, the country seat of Mr William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst,
and there he came to know the exceptionally talented Amherst family.
Samueljohn Carter had painted a number of subjects for the family, and
among his earliest accepted submissions to the Royal Academy Summer
Exhibitions were ‘The falconer’s lunch, at the Heronry, Didlington Park,
Norfolk’, and An Infant Group; Didlington Hall, Norfolk’, both in 1859
when he was at the start of his career. Again, the evidence for Howard
Carter’s earliest acquaintance with the Amhersts of Didlington is very
slight, but as events developed it is clear that he was known sufficiently
well to the family that they felt able to recommend him for work in
Egypt when the opportunity presented itself in 1891.

A strange concatenation of events and circumstances led up to that
occasion in 1891. On the one hand there were the Carters, father and son,
visiting Didlington probably for artistic purposes; on the other hand
there was Percy Edward Newberry, visiting Didlington for horticultural
and Egyptological purposes. In the middle were the Amherts. William
Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst projects the image of a typical mid- to late-
Victorian gentleman, worthy, high-minded, public spirited, a paterfamilias
of solid achievement, a substantial land-owner and a Member of Parlia-
ment. He was additionally, and less conventionally, a man of strong anti-
quarian and literary interests who built up a library notable for its
holdings of old Bibles, early printed books ( incunabula ) and fine bindings;
and an Egyptian collection of major importance. In terms of monu-
mental sculpture, the latter was by far the most substantial in Great
Britain during the nineteenth century; it also contained important texts
on papyri, and a very representative series of small sculptures and minor
antiquities. The collection had been founded on Amherst’s purchase in
the 1 860s of the Egyptian holdings of the Revd R. T. Deder, a Church of
England priest of German origin, and of Dr John Lee, a distinguished
antiquarian. Amherst continued to collect until the early years of the
twentieth century, when a disastrous financial collapse led to the disposal
of the most valuable parts of his library and of significant pieces from his
Egyptian collection. He had been created Baron Amherst of Hackney in
August 1892. Enthusiastically supported by his wife, Margaret, he main-
tained at Didlington a household of wide artistic, historical and literary
attachments. Most of the family (there were five daughters, but no sons)
took a lively interest in Egyptian antiquity, and the diary written by Alicia

HOWARD CARTER

Amherst (their youngest daughter) during the family visit to Egypt in the
winter of 1 894—5 shows a considerable knowledge of Egyptian history
and monuments, and even of hieroglyphs. 18 Lady Amherst herself wrote a
Sketch of Egyptian History from the earliest times to the present day , published in
1904, which ran to 474 printed pages and was well received as a popular,
interestingly illustrated, account for general readers. Mary Amherst, their
oldest daughter, who married Lord William Cecil, even conducted exca-
vations in Egypt in the early years of the twentieth century when Howard
Carter was in a position to be of help. The tombs she uncovered at
Aswan are still known in Egyptological literature as the Cecil Tombs. 19

In visiting a house so oriented towards ancient Egypt, Howard Carter
could not fail to have his own interest stimulated, and he later admitted
that the Amherst Egyptian collection ‘arroused \sic\ my longing for that
country — for the purity of her blue sky, her pale aerial hills, her valleys
teeming with accumulated treasures of Age’. 2 " If he had indeed shown a
real interest in the Egyptian collection, it would not have been surprising
to find Mr Amherst taking an interest in him, and even helping him with
his education. But again, as with Mr Allen of Cockley Cley, there is no
evidence substantially to confirm such benevolent attention.

The Amherst link to Newberry goes back at least to 1890. At that time
Percy Newberry was 21, a budding Egyptologist and an accomplished
botanist and garden historian. He had already spent some years working on
a part-time basis in the office of the Egypt Exploration Fund, building up
his knowledge of tilings Egyptian. In 1888-9 he had contributed a series of
articles on the history of English gardens to the Gardener’s Chronicle. How
he came first to visit the Amhersts is not known, but at Didlington he
found not only a splendid Egyptian collection, but also a young lady with
an incipient interest in the history of gardens. Alicia Amherst was then 25,
and Newberry encouraged her to edit and enlarge his articles in the
Gardener’s Chronicle to make a comprehensive work, bringing the story of
English gardens down to modern times. Eventually her History of Gardening
in England was published in 1895, and with revisions it has remained a
standard work on the subject. 21 So for Newberry there were two good
reasons for maintaining close links with the Amhersts and Didlington.

18 See p. 73 below.

1 9 See pp. 94f. below.

20 In the sketch, An Account of Myself’, p. 20.

21 On the respective contributions of Newberry and Alicia Amherst to the history of
gardens, see W. T. Stearn in Garden History 5, 1 (1977), pp. 42—57. I am indebted to
Professor Stearn for this reference.

EARLY YEARS

The Egypt Exploration Fund, for which Newberry worked as a casual
helper to begin with, had been founded in 1882. 22 Its primary, but by no
means only, begetter was Miss Amelia Edwards, a popular Victorian
novelist and writer of travel books. She had been to Egypt in 1873-4 and
had been smitten both by the fascination of the ancient civilization and
by the need to promote archaeological work in that country. From the
beginning the chief purpose of this Egypt Exploration Fund was to
conduct excavations in Egypt and to publish the results in annual
volumes which would be distributed to the subscribers and sold generally
to interested members of the public. Work in the Nile Delta, with some
emphasis being placed on biblical connections with Egypt, seemed likely
to attract good support, especially from students of the Bible whose
interest in ancient Egypt might not otherwise be strong. Throughout the
1880s the Fund thrived, attracting considerable support in financial
terms for its campaigns in the Delta. Its excavators were Professor
Edouard Naville of Geneva and Mr William Flinders Petrie of London,
two very different field-workers: the former an accomplished scholar,
essentially a desk Egyptologist with a strong but perhaps misguided wish
to excavate; the latter a self-educated, practical excavator who was to
transform archaeology in Egypt, establishing standards of observation,
recording and analysis which would be far in advance of those practised
by any other excavator of that time. The styles and abilities of Naville and
Petrie differed so markedly that trouble inevitably followed. The
rumblings continued for many years, and Howard Carter himself would
in due course find his own career strongly influenced by both men in
contrasting ways. He would find that sweetness and light are not neces-
sarily to be found in the dig-houses and on the working ground of Egypt-
ology. Jealousy, impatience, scorn, disgust, plain ungentlemanly
behaviour, would provide the disagreeable condiments of camp-life.
Naville and Petrie would both be somewhat above the cruder manifesta-
tions of dislike; but the deep antipathy that existed between them repre-
sented fundamental differences of principles and of working practices
which erupted in bitter public squabbles from time to time, to the great
embarrassment of the Committee of the Fund. Yet Carter was to find
very positive advantages in working with both of them; from both he
would learn much.

22 For a good general account of the foundation, see M. S. Drower, ‘The Early Years’ in
T.G.H. James (ed.), Excavating in Egypt. The Egypt Exploration Society 1882—1982
(London, 1982), pp. 9ff.

HOWARD CARTER

The troubles of the field, however, lay some way ahead, and the event
which led to Howard Carter’s first going to Egypt was one that scarcely
involved controversy. It was the establishment of a new branch of the Egypt
Exploration Fund’s activities, to be called the Archaeological Survey. 2 ’ For
some years a feeling had been growing among people seriously interested in
and acquainted at first-hand with the monuments of Egypt that something
had to be done about the surviving antiquities before the depradations of
time, weather, visitors, vandals and robbers brought about their ultimate
fate in destruction. Physical protection on a comprehensive scale was out of
the question; even the great, well known monuments in places like Saqqara
and Luxor could not properly be guarded by the tiny force of antiquities
guards which could be officially maintained. Still, something could be done
at least for scientific purposes by recording what was visible throughout the
six hundred miles of Nile Valley and Delta. The most eloquent advocate for
action was Francis Llewellyn Griffith, a young self-taught Egyptologist, first
student of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 28 years old in 1890 and already
established as the brightest hope of British scholarship in the Egyptian field.
His subsequent contributions to Egyptology were many and formidable,
and by a satisfactory circularity of circumstances the Institute which would
be founded after his death in his name in Oxford would become the depos-
itory of the surviving scholarly archive of Howard Carter, among those of
many others. As early as 1889 Griffith had argued strongly for die establish-
ment of an archaeological survey:

With the countenance and support of the Egyptian Government, we
might in a few years sweep the whole surface of the country, and
gather in the harvest which hastens to ruin with every day that
passes. . . . What is needed is a sifting of information, an index of the
monuments, a description from a new point of view, taking each city,
its tombs and temples, as a whole, and not merely extracting scenes,
inscriptions, and architectural features.

Contemplating this proposal a century later, one can marvel at the
optimistic expectations of what could be achieved in a relatively short
time — a very few years in Griffith’s estimation — but at the same time
appreciate the imaginative intention. In a matter of months after the
formal establishment of the Archaeological Survey in 1890, the first

23 On its formation and history, see T. G. H. James, ‘The Archaeological Survey’, in
James, op. cit., pp. 141f.

EARLY YEARS

recruits for work in the field had been accepted and preparations were
set in hand for a first season. Two very different workers had been
found, and little could have been guessed at the outset that in their
differences lay the seeds of a very uncomfortable partnership, and ulti-
mately of outright disharmony. George Willoughby Fraser, an engineer
by training, who had worked for some months with Flinders Petrie in the
Faiyum, the lake province of Egypt to the west of the Nile Valley, had
impressed Griffith with copies he had made of inscriptions in the region
of Minya in Middle Egypt. His partner was to be Percy Newberry, friend
of the Amhersts and well acquainted with the ways of the Egypt Explo-
ration Fund. Although Fraser knew Egypt better than Newberry, and
had real field experience behind him, he found himself the junior of
Newberry in the team, and this apparent subservience did not suit his
naturally ebullient character. Newberry was somewhat on the sober side;
very steady, a trifle plodding, well intentioned and hardworking, a thor-
oughly decent person, kind and considerate, but perhaps not much fun.

When Newberry and Fraser began the first season of the Archaeolog-
ical Survey in November 1890 a reasonably realistic target had been set by
agreement between the Committee, Newberry and Griffith, who was to
be the general editor of the Survey’s work and its guiding light and chief
support in London. A relatively small stretch of the Nile Valley in Middle
Egypt was chosen for intensive survey and recording; the site of Beni
Hasan became the first focus of attention. At this place was a series of
tombs dated to what are called the First Intermediate Period and the
Middle Kingdom (c. 2150—1800 BC). Although the place had been much
visited by early travellers, and some record of the tomb-scenes made, the
monuments there had never been adequately studied or fully published.
The scenes in the larger and better preserved tombs were full of inter-
esting details, and they required great care in their copying. For this first
season Newberry and Fraser apparently worked well together, and
between them they almost completed the tracing of all the tombs, a deco-
rated area estimated at 12,000 square feet. It was a long season, extending
until May 1891, quite long enough to test the patience and good-will of
men better matched than Newberry and Fraser. They had been joined for
the last months of the season by Marcus W Blackden, a Royal Academy
student whom Newberry had met in London. He happened to be in
Egypt on a sketching trip, and he volunteered his services to Newberry.
He was engaged to paint details and some of the fine coloured hiero-
glyphs which make the Beni Hasan tombs of particular interest.

HOWARD CARTER

A letter Newberry wrote to Amelia Edwards in February, in which he
announces the engagement of Marcus Blackden, contains a revealing
account of the regime endured at Beni Hasan: 24

We work from about 8 in the morning (for there is not sufficient light
in the tombs to begin earlier) till sunset. Then we dine and I generally
work on till ten going through and correcting the tracings which I
have made during the day or else puzzle out some Coptic inscription
or ancient Egyptian painting. This is my round of work for the day and
it is seldom altered. Occasionally, once a fortnight or so, I take a walk
with Mr. Fraser along the Gebel [mountain], or southward as far as the
village of Beni Hassan but as I am very anxious to finish here before I
return to England I generally prefer to remain in the tombs at my
tracing.

It was clearly a tough and unremitting way of life, and a real test of char-
acter. The arrival of Blackden undoubtedly eased the situation, and
Newberry was pleased with the coloured facsimiles he made. Even so,
progress was not as good as had been expected, and by the end of the
season Beni Hasan was not completed as Newberry had hoped. Further-
more, there were difficulties over funds. Survey work was not as glam-
orous as excavation, and although the costs of the operations in the field
were not as great as those incurred in digging, there would have to be
much follow-up work at the end of the season to be paid for, and, of
course, there would be the expenses of publication. Generous donors
were not so eager to support this side of the Egypt Exploration Fund’s
work. But there were a few, and comments by Newberry in the same
letter to Amelia Edwards are of particular interest in the light of what
was to happen soon after his return to England:

I received your letter last Wednesday and am very pleased to hear that
Sir Francis Grenfell has contributed to our artists fund. The friend you
mention in your letter who, I think, is willing to give another £25 is
Mrs. Tyssen Amherst. I was staying with them shortly before I left
England and she seemed to be enthusiastic about the Survey and said
she would help. I will write to her myself about it and will immediately
I receive her answer let you know her reply.

24 E.E.S. Archives, Xfl d 31.

EARLY YEARS

The subsequent correspondence on this subject has not survived, but it
certainly was to bear fruit rapidly after Newberry’s return to Britain. A
letter from Mrs Amherst, dated 29 May 1891, surprisingly states: ‘I am so
glad that you have been able to get an appointment for Howard Carter. I
am very grateful to you and I hope he will prove a useful help in every
way. I told his mother that he ought to try and improve himself by study
as much as possible during his leisure time. It is a very good start to get
£100 a year. 23

Carter’s appointment may have been in the first instance to help
Newberry with the inking-in of his tracings from Beni Hasan; it would
have been one way of trying out his capabilities. But from the beginning
Newberry may have been thinking of an additional artist for the Survey
in Egypt. Quite probably he was considering this possibility when he
took up with Mrs Amherst the question of her support for the Archaeo-
logical Survey. He no doubt told her of his anxieties over progress and
even spoke of the recruitment of another artist to work with him and
Fraser in Egypt. Marcus Blackden’s commitment to die Survey had been
opportunist - in a good sense - and there was little reason at that
moment to believe that he would be available for a further season. In fact
Blackden did return to Egypt in the autumn of 1891, and worked with
Fraser and Newberry on a more formal basis, but it had not been
expected earlier in the year. It also happened that the moderate harmony
of the first season did not survive the second season, and it was as well
that Newberry had Carter to help him when things became difficult.
From Mrs Amherst’s letter it certainly appears that she had first
suggested Howard Carter, her recommendation being based on what she
already knew of his artistic skills. It was earlier suggested that the young
Carter had probably first visited Didlington Hall with his father; it is
certainly likely that it was in Norfolk that the two families, Amhersts and
Carters, had opportunities to meet, even if on a non-social level. But
both families had ‘town’ houses, the Carters in Rich Terrace, Brompton,
and the Amhersts in Portman Square in St Marylebone, still in the 1890s
a handsome, largely eighteenth- century assemblage of town houses. It
would not have been out of the question for Mrs Amherst to have called
on Mrs Carter in London when she passed on her advice on how
Howard should ‘improve himself’. She could equally have asked
Howard’s mother to call on her in London or in the country. It would,

25 G.I. Newberry Corr. 2/9. The sum mentioned by Mrs Amherst does not square with

the/^50 agreed by the Committee of the Fund in October 1891; see below.

HOWARD CARTER

however, be wrong to emphasize social niceties in the relationship
between the Amhersts and the Carters. All the evidence points to the
unconventionality of the Amhersts in their social dealings.

The initial moves which led to this first appointment for Howard
Carter were probably rather informal - letters between Newberry, Mrs
Amherst and Miss Amelia Edwards, discussions with the various officers
of the Egypt Exploration Fund, including Francis LI. Griffith, negotia-
tions of a kind with the Carter family by the Amhersts. Although
Howard Carter’s engagement seems to have been effected rather swiftly
after Newberry’s return to England, the final decision to send him to
Egypt was not taken by the Committee of the Fund until October 1891,
when his remuneration was fixed at £50, as may be seen in the next
chapter. He had presumably given satisfaction by his work during the
summer, in which his evident ability would have been revealed. The
needs of the Archaeological Survey were pressing, and Mrs Amherst’s
generosity to the Fund had to be considered. It may be hoped that Carter
himself may also have been involved in the decisions, although it would
not have been unusual at that time for his future to be decided for him
by parents and well-wishers.

Nevertheless, in retrospect Carter always looked back on this change
in his situation as the great opportunity of his life — as it turned out to be
- and he expressed no regret at abandoning a more conventional career
as an artist, if any artistic career may be thought of in terms of conven-
tionality. He had been fired by the Amherst collection of Egyptian antiq-
uities, but it was probably not his enthusiasm for Egypt and Egyptian
things that specially commended him to the Amhersts; it was his artistic
talent that impressed them and made him a young man worth
promoting. He had been well trained by his father in the basic skills of
draughtsmanship, and he could draw and paint with more than ordinary
skill. He was to remain essentially an artist throughout his life, and his
natural instinct was to turn to drawing and painting when he needed
mental relaxation. But at the age of 17, as he was in 1891, he may well
have had doubts about spending his life as his father had done. He makes
a kind of confession of uncertainty in one version of his autobiograph-
ical sketch: 26 ‘For a living I began by drawing in water colours and
coloured chalks portraits of pet parrots, cats and snappy, smelly lap dogs.
Although I was always a great lover of birds and animals - in fact I was
brought up with them - how I hated that particular species known as

26 The Jonathan Carter version.

EARLY YEARS

lap-dog.’ Such evidence of uncertainty should probably not be pressed
too hard, but there seems to be no doubt that he welcomed the chance
of going to what was a dream-country for him, a land of exotic possibili-
ties, far beyond the expectations of a young man largely country-bred
and the member of an untravelled family.

The study needed to prepare him for his great adventure could not be
fully pursued in Norfolk. He could spend time at Didlington familiarizing
himself with Egyptian antiquities and even talking about Egypt to Mr and
Mrs Amherst. He could draw Egyptian objects and work on Newberry’s
tracings; he could become familiar with Egyptian styles and begin to
understand Egyptian artistic conventions. But there was more useful
study that he could only carry out in London, as will be seen shortly. All
his preliminary efforts bore good fruit. From the beginning his drawing
of Egyptian subjects displays a confidence and grasp of technique which
are wholly convincing. Until late in the nineteenth century European
artists, trained on classical models, found it difficult to produce stylisti-
cally satisfactory drawings of Egyptian material. Howard Carter, by an
excellent eye and sure draughtsmanship, never failed to penetrate to the
heart of whatever Egyptian subject he might be painting or drawing.

The additional training and study which he carried out in the summer
and early autumn of 1891 was conducted in the British Museum. He was
able to live in his parents’ house at 10 Rich Terrace, from which he could
easily reach the Museum by omnibus. At the Museum he worked under
the supervision of Francis LI. Griffith, the architect of the Archaeolog-
ical Survey. By a bizarre misarrangement Griffith was an Assistant not in
the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities but in the Depart-
ment of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography. For Carter
this apparently strange situation worked to his advantage. From the time
of the foundation of the Egypt Exploration Fund there had been a cool-
ness towards its activities from the Department of Oriental Antiquities
(soon to be partly reorganized as Egyptian and Assyrian). The distin-
guished keeper of Oriental Antiquities, Samuel Birch, refused to offer
enthusiastic support in the Fund’s early years, though he and Miss
Amelia Edwards were well acquainted, even friends, as she thought. 2 His
opposition may have been due to the fact that he was one of the prin-
cipal supporters of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, whose Proceedings
had become the main oudet for published research in Egyptology in

27 On Birch’s attitude, see T. G. H. Tames, The British Museum and A.ncient Egypt (London,
1981), pp. 25f.

HOWARD CARTER

Great Britain. From the viewpoint of one hundred years later it can be
seen that there was no real threat to Birch’s Society from the newly estab-
lished Fund, but things probably looked rather different in the 1880s.
Birch died in 1 885 and his successor, Peter Le Page Renouf, maintained
the cool attitude, supported by Ernest Wallis Budge, a protege of Birch
who would himself succeed Renouf in 1893. It is not likely that Howard
Carter would at this time have been welcomed enthusiastically in the
Egyptian and Assyrian Department. Nevertheless, the public galleries,
tilled with a wealth of Egyptian antiquities far surpassing Mr Amherst’s
domestic collection, were available for a bright young man to visit at will
during the open hours of the Museum. Here with an official sketching
permit he could draw to Inis heart’s content. But the main purpose of his
visits to the British Museum was to study, under Griffith’s supervision,
the drawings of Egyptian antiquities, especially paintings and reliefs,
made by artists and travellers in the early nineteenth century and
preserved in the Department of Manuscripts.

Preeminent among the various collections were the papers of Robert
Hay, a Scottish antiquarian 28 who made several extended visits to Egypt
between 1824 and 1838, often accompanied by artists whom he commis-
sioned to help him with the recording of monuments throughout Egypt
and the northern Sudan. He was himself no mean artist, and his copies
display a remarkable fidelity of observation, even in the drawing of hiero-
glyphic inscriptions, though he had scant knowledge of the script. There
are 49 volumes of Hay material in what is now the British Library, and
they engaged most of Howard Carter’s attention: ‘my principal work was
the studying and copying of the MSS of Robert Hay, an explorer, and
patron of explorers, who during the first part of the nineteenth century
made a collection of detailed drawings, minutely accurate copies of
inscriptions and plans of the Egyptian monuments, that put to shame
most of the contemporary and later work in that country.’ Indeed, Carter
could not have had a better model to study, and as Hay’s copies included
scenes and inscriptions from the tombs at Beni Hasan and El-Bersha,
where the Fund’s expedition would be working, he received as good a
preliminary training as was possible at that time. And so, in a matter of a
few months, Howard Carter was transformed from an apprentice animal
painter with moderate prospects into a potential archaeological artist,

28 Hay’s career and achievement are best described in Selwyn Tillett, Egypt Itself. The

Career of Robert Hay of Einplum and El unraw, 1799—1863 (London, 1984).

29 On the scale and accuracy of Hay’s work at Beni Hasan, Tillett, op. cit., pp. 59ff.

EARLY YEARS

with perhaps even less moderate prospects. He had, however, been
offered the opportunity to step out of the rut of conventional illustra-
tion, and to enter a new world of unknown possibilities. He was to go to
Egypt to exercise his proven talents. His wildest expectations in that
autumn of 1891 could scarcely have included what the future would
eventually bring some thirty years later.

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

There is an apparent abruptness in the transition of Howard Carter from
the protected environment of Swaffham and Brompton in the late autumn
of 1891. Carter’s own account in his autobiographical sketch is wholly
lacking in detail, and simply registers his arrival in Alexandria where he
was met by Newberry. Yet this was his first journey out of England, his
first separation from family and familiar scenes. He was just seventeen and
a half, a youth who had moved litde in the world, although with some
contacts with leading families in East Anglia. It is tempting to think of him
as shy and gauche, a little awkward in human relations, and confident
perhaps only when he had a pencil between his fingers. Writing in later life
he mentioned both his father and his mother with affection, attributing to
the former his artistic talent, and to the latter his taste for the softer side of
life. Still, there is no hint in his few surviving letters of these early years of
separation dtat he ever suffered the pains of home-sickness.

It was, of course, a great adventure. He subsequently claimed that he
had developed an interest in and a desire to visit Egypt through contact
with Amherst’s collection, and there seems no reason to doubt this claim.
But his going to Egypt was certainly viewed by the Amhersts, and prob-
ably by his own family as well, as an excellent opportunity for one whose
future otherwise might seem to be that of a jobbing artist. So he was on
his way to a new and strange life, one that must have excited him in pros-
pect, even if it threatened uncertainty.

Howard Carter’s appointment to work for the Egypt Exploration
Fund was not formally approved until a Committee meeting of the Fund
on 16 October 1891. It was then resolved ‘that Mr. Carter be appointed a
Tracer to assist Mr. Newberry at a cost not exceeding £50.’* Within a

1 E.E.E Committee Minutes.

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

very few days he must have begun his solitary voyage to Egypt, being
seen off from Victoria Station in London by his father. It was common
practice in those days to proceed, after the Channel crossing, to an
Italian port where a passage could be obtained to Alexandria. Newberry
had gone ahead of Carter. It might have been thought a kindness for him
to have taken Carter with him on this first occasion. It did not happen
so, and Newberry travelled out in the company of the Revd Greville
Chester, who had regularly wintered in Egypt since 1865. In a letter to
Griffith written from Brindisi on 25 October he says: 2 ‘I had a very jolly
time in Venice and saw most of what was to be seen. I also stopped 6
hours at Milan and saw the Cathedral. Yesterday we got to Ancona and
G. Chester and I went ashore to see a triumphal arch (fine Roman) and
the Byzantine Cathedral .... I shall have to stay two or three days at
Alexandria to await Carter’s arrival and will write from Cairo.’

Within ten days of the writing of that letter Newberry and Carter had
arrived at Beni Hasan. Carter had scarcely time to orient himself before
he was plunged into the activity for which he had been recruited. In
Cairo, however, a few days had been passed in which he was able to
spend some time in the Museum, which had at that time been just
recently installed in the palace of Ismail Pasha in the suburb of Giza, to
which it had been moved in 1889—90 from its original home in Bulaq.
Carter also claims in his late sketch that during these days in Cairo he
met for the first time Flinders Petrie, and that he had the opportunity of
talking to him in the evenings. The great archaeologist, who already had
in his eleven years of working in Egypt shown himself to be no ordinary
excavator, was on his way to start his season at El-Amarna. Here Carter
would, surprisingly, join him in early 1892, but at their first meeting in
Cairo there could have been no hint of what was to come within a few
months. In retrospect he claimed: ‘This meeting of Flinders Petrie, a man
of simple tastes, endowed with discernment which gave him confidence
and power to solve archaeological problems, remains one of those
impressible incidents of my early life. As a son of an artist, what perhaps
interested me most, beside the extent and precision of his knowledge,
was his recognition and love of fine art.’

Newberry’s plans for the 1891-2 season included the completion of
the main work of recording the scenes and inscriptions in the tombs at
Beni Hasan, and to move on to El-Bersha, a site about 20 miles to the
south where a further group of tombs belonging to provincial nobles

2 E.E.S. Archives XII d 49.

HOWARD CARTER

was located. In addition to himself and Howard Carter, there were two
further people in the party, George Willoughby Fraser and later M. W
Blackden, both of whom had taken part in the first season at Beni Hasan.
They, with Newberry, were the old hands - of one year’s standing - and
must have seemed to the young Carter immensely experienced and
accomplished in the work and in the ways of the camp. They lived in one
of the very substantial tomb-chapels of Beni Hasan, cut into the lime-
stone rock of the escarpment overlooking the Nile Valley from the east.
The major tombs at Beni Hasan are reached from a terrace-path of
varying width which runs in front of the facades of the tombs, some of
which are nobly distinguished by formal entrances with pillared porti-
coes, all cut from the living rock. It is a dramatic site, set about 200 feet
above the Nile plain which on this eastern side stretches only a few
hundred yards from the river before it reaches the rocky hillside. Across
the river in the distance the fertile plain extends several miles towards the
foothills of the western desert.

In his retrospect Carter waxes lyrical at the site: living was reasonably
comfortable, the view from the terrace to the west was glorious, the
tombs and their decorations were unique. But he was much less lyrical
about the method of work established by Newberry and his other assist-
ants. The tomb-scenes which cover the walls of the best-preserved
tomb-chapels provide, in addition to certain ritual and specifically reli-
gious representations required by convention, an extraordinary
conspectus of Egyptian life in the provinces of Middle Egypt during the
late Eleventh and the Twelfth Dynasties: domestic activities in and about
the households of the great nobles of the Oryx nome, the varied agricul-
tural processes in field and stockyard, the pleasures and hazards of
hunting in the desert — most of the events which were included in the
repertoire of the great mastaba-chwpete of the Old-Kingdom tombs at
Saqqara. There were also unusual scenes of young people at play,
engaging in extended and elaborate bouts of wrestling, and particular
incidents of seemingly historical significance, like the arrival of Asiatics
with a consignment of eye-paint. Incidental detail in the scenes was
frequently unusual and charming — the harvesting of figs with apes in the
fig trees, for example.

The technique of painting directly on the smoothed limestone walls of
the tombs, prepared simply with a thin plaster wash, produced a brilliant
effect in which much depended on the skill of line of the painter-
draughtsman, enhanced by fine added detail. Surfaces were disfigured by

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

occasional hornets’ nests made of mud rendered as hard as concrete by
the skill of the insects, and by a general patina of dirt, the accumulation
of almost four millennia. The Newberry technique of copying could only
produce a sad travesty of the originals. Sheets of tracing paper were hung
down the length of the decorated surfaces, with some overlap, and the
scenes were traced in soft pencil. The same technique was used for those
few parts where carved relief replaced straight painting, mostly on the
jambs of doorways and some dado inscriptions. These tracings were then
rolled up and brought back to London at the end of the season to be
inked in, possibly by draughtsmen who had never seen the originals.
Figures of men and animals, etc., were filled in solidly in black. The
results of this simple, but crude, method of recording may be seen in the
volumes published by Newberry on the Beni Hasan tombs. 3 Judged by
subsequent standards they are not attractive, and do poor justice to the
originals. In extenuation, however, it must be said that Newberry was a
true pioneer in the recording of monuments of this kind to a standard of
accuracy in other respects never previously achieved. He was, further-
more, not an artist himself, and had not been briefed to record in an
‘artistic’ manner. The urgency which had characterized the setting up of
the Archaeological Survey demanded speed; care in generalities and
accuracy in the rendering of hieroglyphic texts, but without the precision
that would now be demanded in good facsimile recording, were what
was needed. The last thing Newberry required at this point was to have
his methods questioned and his techniques changed by a bright youth
who already had the eye and the skill to produce something much better.

Again, retrospectively, Howard Carter claimed that he appreciated
how much better a copy could be made by working ‘as anyone practised
in the fine arts would do’, and making ‘a facsimile from the original with
free and understanding hand’. The time would come, and not so far
ahead, when he would be able to practise his own method with outstand-
ingly good results. But for the moment he was the new boy and did what
he was told. In so doing he pleased Newberry, who wrote to Francis
Llewellyn Griffith on 18 November: 4

3 P. E. Newberry, Beni Hasan, vols I and II (London, 1893, 189—1) contain the records of
the tomb scenes and texts, vols III and IV (London, 1896, 1900) contain copies of
selected hieroglyphs and interesting zoological and other details, with text by F. LI.
Griffith and excellent coloured facsimiles by Carter, Blackden and others.

4 E.E.S. Archives XII d 52.

HOWARD CARTER

Our time (Carter’s and my own) has been spent from 7 morning till
sunset entirely on tracing and we now have only a very little more to
do here. I never reckoned on getting done so fast. It is astonishing
how much can be done by two men working hard when the hands are
willing. I believe that Carter and I could almost trace all the tombs in
Egypt in five years!!! On Sunday last I tried Carter at painting and
found he could copy things here very well indeed almost as well as
Blackden.

So, after scarcely more than two weeks at Beni Hasan, in his first
season in Egypt, Carter had shown himself to be worthy of Amherst
recommendation and well worth the £50 voted for him by the
Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund. Now there was to be a
change of scene. In the same letter to Griffith, Newberry signalled his
intention to leave Beni Hasan for El-Bersha on the following Sunday,
and to take Carter with him if Fraser had not completed the work on
which he was then engaged. In the event both Fraser and Carter went
with Newberry to El-Bersha. In a further letter to Griffith, dated 26
November,’’ Newberry explained how he and Carter had walked much of
the way from Beni Hasan, as far as Sheikh Ibada (Antinoupolis),
searching the hills for tombs and quarries and finding many, but none
inscribed. A rather more chatty letter to Miss Edwards written two days
later added some more personal details. 5 6 At Sheikh Ibada the two tired
walkers had waited hours for their boat to arrive and had taken their tea
on ‘bread, water and onions (!)’. At El-Bersha they found no tombs suit-
able as a billet and pitched tents loaned to the expedition by Sir Francis
Grenfell (Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Army) in the ravine
below the tombs. Newberry declared, ‘It is my first experience in tenting
and I find them very comfortable.’ In later years Carter reminisced less
fondly about the tents, regretting the coolness of the Beni Hasan tomb,
but spoke enthusiastically about the abundant bird and animal life which
sustained his interest.

Here, in the tombs of the nomarchs of the Hare nome, the decoration
was carved and painted, and in at least one tomb was of a quality supe-
rior to that at Beni Hasan. Unhappily, the tombs had suffered serious
damage both from the natural slippage of the cliff-face in which the
tombs were cut, and from human attack. The most unusual, and famous,

5 E.E.S. Archives XII d 54.

6 E.E.S. Archives XII d 55.

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

scene in the tomb of Djehutihotpe had been grievously damaged since it
was first noted and copied by early travellers and their artists in the first
decades of the nineteenth century. The scene shows the dragging of a
huge seated statue cut from the alabaster quarries called Hatnub. Placed
on a sledge, and carefully secured with ropes, the mighty monument is
drawn along by a substantial company of men - a scene of exceptional
interest and filled with fascinating detail. Carter had the task of tracing
this scene, and it is interesting to observe that in the publication of the
El-Bersha tombs his plates are presented very differently from those
attributed to Newberry . 7 The blocking-in of the figures is abandoned,
and the reproduced drawings - even if derived from tracings in the
Newberry manner - are of a pleasing clarity and full of visible detail.
Carter was certainly employed in the subsequent summer to ink-in the
drawings brought back from El-Bersha; he clearly seized the opportunity
to show how things could be improved, and the fact that the plates in the
Bersha volume completed by him were acceptable to Newberry and
Griffith shows how convincingly he had demonstrated the superiority of
his methods, in spite of the fact that tracing as the initial stage had not
yet been abandoned.

One of the constants of archaeological expeditions is the lack of
harmony among the participants. It is not inevitable that personal rela-
tions should be strained and that most seasons should end with deep
divisions between the individual members of staffs; but it happens far
too frequently that differences of temperament, of technical method, of
interpretation, bedevil the even course of progress. Discord is often put
down to the way of life on an expedition in the field; for months at a
time three or four people (and nowadays upwards of twelve to twenty)
live on fairly intimate terms with little social life and few distractions
from the constant presence of the work in hand. Small idiosyncrasies can
become major impediments; pedantries become tyrannies; personal pref-
erences in food, in particular, can engender bitter antagonisms. It all
looks pretty silly at a distance, but is very real on the ground. Howard
Carter, who in later life proved to be one of the less tolerant of field-
workers, was early introduced to this particular characteristic of the
‘expedition’.

7 The colossus scene is reproduced in P. E. Newberry, El Bersheh I (London, 1895), pi.
XV. A list is given on p. viii of those plates prepared by Newberry, the remainder all
being by Carter.

HOWARD CARTER

For reasons that are not now wholly clear, a serious division had devel-
oped in the camp of the Archaeological Survey. Willoughby Fraser and
Blackden ranged themselves against Newberry, and young Carter,
Newberry’s acolyte, was necessarily ranged along with the last. Things
had developed badly after the reopening of the work at Beni Hasan in
November 1891, and they were to become so serious that Newberry felt
obliged to offer his resignation to the Egypt Exploration Fund. It would
seem that Fraser principally had found Newberry’s direction of the
Survey’s activities irksome, and perhaps too restrictive. By training Fraser
was an engineer, and he was employed by the Fund as a surveyor as well
as a tracer and copier of inscriptions. He had received some earlier field
training with Petrie at Hawara and Ulahun, had worked in a voluntary
capacity for the Irrigation Department in Egypt, and possibly he felt that
his experience, if not his competence, was superior to that of Newberry.
A certain independence of spirit, and even apparent lack of seriousness,
ran counter to Newberry’s preferred methods of working; but these tire-
some, scarcely insurmountable obstacles to harmony were now to be
aggravated by a casual approach to scholarly etiquette which led to a
bitter and permanent breach between Fraser and Newberry.

A matter which at this time served as a modest obsession for
Newberry and, perhaps to a lesser extent, for Petrie, was the identifica-
tion of the tomb of Akhenaten. This eccentric king of the late Eight-
eenth Dynasty, who had established his capital at Akhetaten (El-Amarna)
in Middle Egypt, a little to the south of El-Bersha, had only recently
been brought seriously to the attention of Egyptologists. The interest in
him and his wife Nefertiti, and in the apparently revolutionary ideas they
brought to conventional Egyptian religion, was yet to achieve the
popular attention which still persists a century later. It was, however,
already evident in the last quarter of the nineteenth century that some-
thing very unusual, in Egyptian terms, had occurred in Akhenaten’s
reign, and the idea that his tomb might be in the hills near El-Amarna
excited considerable interest and speculation. The focus on the region
had recently been intensified by the opening of the first scientific excava-
tion in the Amarna plain by Flinders Petrie in the autumn of 1891.

Subsequently it became apparent that the tomb of Akhenaten had
been found by Egyptians some years earlier, and that its precise location
was kept secret principally so that it could be cleared and any discoveries
of objects exploited unofficially, and perhaps partly by an undisclosed
arrangement with Eugene Grebaut, the French Director-General of the

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

Antiquities Service. If there indeed were an arrangement, its purpose has
never been satisfactorily explained; but Petrie’s ingrained distrust of and
antipathy towards Grebaut allowed the latter no credit in the eventual
‘discovery’ of die tomb at the turn of the year 1891— 2. 8 There can be no
doubt that in the months running up to the public announcement of the
discovery there was abroad in Middle Egypt any number of unsubstanti-
ated and probably deliberately misleading rumours about the tomb’s
location. And from one series of inaccurate reports came another
extremely interesting discovery which Newberry undoubtedly felt he
could claim as his own along with Howard Carter.

Late in December Newberry and Carter paid several visits to Petrie,
and together they explored outlying parts of the Amarna city area, identi-
fying some of the impressive boundary inscriptions (stelae) set up by
Akhenaten to delimit the zone set aside for his new city. On their way
back to El-Bersha on Monday 21 December, Newberry and Carter were
approached by three men, described by Newberry as ‘bedawin’ in the
letter he started to write to Griffith from El-Bersha on 23 December. 9
These men told him of a tomb in the desert containing paintings and
sculptures and inscriptions. Newberry then ‘set to questioning my guide
and found that he knew of two stones inscribed as well as the “tomba”.’
He at once suspected that Akhenaten’s tomb was the one in question -
he uses the form Chuenaten (alternatively Khuenaten) which was the
common reading of the king’s name at that time - and he decided to go
and have a look. ‘So on Tuesday morning Carter and I started off on
camels early in the morning for Haggi Kandil’, where Petrie had his
camp.’ We reached the central ravine at 12 o’clock and then went up over
the southern hills.’ After an hour’s travel they came upon a boundary
stela and at that point the camel men wanted to return. Newberry
persuaded them to continue to the ‘tomba’. ‘After about 3Y2 more hours
we at last came in sight of great heaps of limestone chips. You may judge
of our excitement when we got quite close to them - and of our disap-
pointment when we found it was only an alabaster quarry!’ This disap-
pointment was tempered by the discovery of inscriptions containing the
names of kings of the Old Kingdom, and the realization that the quarry
was one of greater antiquity than any previously discovered in the region.

8 For Petrie’s interest in the tomb and his attitude to Grebaut, see M. S. Drower, Flinders
Petrie (London, 1985), pp. 192f.

9 E.E.S. Archives XII d 57.

HOWARD CARTER

‘So, on the whole, I think our day has not been quite wasted though I
must say that I had great hopes of Ending Chuenaten’s tomb.’

Later in the same letter, condnued on 24 December, Newberry
expresses his determination to pursue the search: ‘It would be a grand
thing if we could get hold of it.’ But there was first to be a break for
Christmas. Newberry was to go to Minya to celebrate the holiday with
Major Brown, a Government Irrigation Inspector, 10 and Carter to Petrie.
As for Blackden and Fraser, he discovered when it was too late to change
that they too would be with Brown in Minya. ‘If I had known they were
going I most certainly should not have accepted as they both have made
it most abominably uncomfortable for me here.’ His vexarion would
shortly be increased immeasurably by behaviour on the part of Blackden
and Fraser which Newberry could only see as treachery and very unpro-
fessional conduct.

Two days after Christmas, Blackden and Fraser absented themselves
from the Survey’s camp and, following up information gleaned from
Newberry, made for the quarry. It is not clear whether they had permis-
sion to go off on an independent expedirion; it is certain that they would
not have been given permission if Newberry had known their intenrions.
They spent two or three days at the quarry and made a much more
extensive and leisurely investigation of the place, discovering a number
of long and interesring hieraric inscriprions daring from the early Middle
Kingdom. The matter that especially excited them was the identification
in these inscriptions of several menrions of the name Hatnub, which was
already known to them as the quarry site from which had come the
colossal alabaster statue represented on the walls of the tomb of Djehuti-
hotpe at El-Bersha. Blackden and Fraser, undoubtedly rightly, but
certainly untactfully, claimed the priority of identification and in so doing
suggested in effect that they had done a better job in examining the site
than Newberry and Carter. Their separate report to the Egypt Explora-
tion Fund was incorporated in a short announcement made by Francis
LI. Griffith in The Academy for 23 January 1892. 11 It is entitled ‘The

10 Robert Hanbury Brown, knighted in 1902; he wrote several books on the Faiyum and
Exodus; see W. R. Dawson and others, Who Was Who in Egyptology (3rd ed., London,
1995), p. 65.

1 1 Griffith’s report was based on Newberry’s letter quoted above, on personal conversa-
tions with Newberry, who had left El-Bersha for England early in January, and on
correspondence with Fraser and Blackden who, reportedly, had sent copies of their
notes to him. So they said in a letter to Miss Amelia B. Edwards dated 13 January 1892,
in G.l. Newberry Corr. 16/35.

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

Alabaster Quarry of Hat-nub’, and states that the discovery of the site
had been made by Newberry on 22 December in a day visit. Griffith
adds, ‘having seen enough only to show its high interest and the proba-
bility of its being Hat-nub.’ Newberry in his letter of 23-24 December
makes no connection with Hatnub. Griffith continues: ‘A few days later
(December 27-29) Messrs. Blackden and Frazer took leave of absence
from the Survey, and leisurely examined the place and its neighbourhood
and copied the inscriptions. They found the name Hat-nub five times.’

Subsequently Blackden and Fraser made two more visits to the quarry,
copied many of the hieratic inscriptions, and issued a private publication
of their copies in 1894. It was a rather perfunctory publication, lacking
any introductory text or descriptive commentary. It was also rather
provocatively entided Collection of Hieratic Graffiti from the alabaster quarry of
Hatnub, situated near Tell HI Amarna, found December 28th 1891, copied
September, 1892. An article in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archae-
ology in January 1894 gave Fraser the opportunity to describe the circum-
stances of his visits with Blackden to the quarry, and to set out his own
archaeological findings together with brief discussions of some of the
inscriptions. 12

The Hatnub episode was particularly vexatious for Newberry. He had
undoubtedly missed his opportunity, obsessed as he was at the time with
the search for the tomb of Akhenaten. He had not made an exhaustive
search of the quarry pardy because there was litde time on his day visit
there with Carter, and pardy because of his disappointment that it was
not The Tomb. By telling Blackden and Fraser of this discovery without
presumably indicating any intention to return and to include the copying
of the texts there in the programme of the Archaeological Survey, he
failed to establish his prior claim for publication, even though this claim
should have been recognized by his turbulent assistants. He had, further,
missed finding the hieratic texts which now represent the main element
of inscriptional interest at Hatnub, containing the personal records of
important officials, chiefly of the Hare nome, who report significant
details of their careers and of their expeditions to obtain alabaster from
the quarry.

Blackden and Fraser for their part secured a rather sour triumph. They
had beaten Newberry and unexpectedly discovered more than they had
hoped for. But their triumph was based on reprehensible behaviour.
They were at El-Bersha as the servants of the Archaeological Survey of

12 P.S.B.A. 16 (1894), pp. 73ff.

HOWARD CARTER

the Egypt Exploration Fund, and should have understood the implica-
tions of their unauthorized visit to the quarry. In extenuation it should be
said that they did make a most interesting discovery, that their copies
were thought at the time to be careful and reliable, and that they made
these copies available for study and for partial inclusion in the second
part of El Bersheh (1895). In this volume the difficult hieratic script, little
known in the late nineteenth century, was admirably dealt with by Francis
LI. Griffith.

Howard Carter, drawn into this unseemly controversy, received thus
an unpleasant initiation into the kinds of quarrel which disfigure scholar-
ship and particularly archaeology. His own allegiance lay naturally with
Newberry, and he would have been left in no doubt of the latter’s anger.
No contemporary record survives in which Carter’s feelings were noted,
but the incident is described, with a few inaccuracies of detail, in his late
autobiographical essay. It is clear that he retained a lively memory of
what he felt had been disreputable behaviour by Blackden and Fraser. He
describes how they returned from their first visit to Hatnub ‘when trium-
phantly they informed us that they had not only succeeded in making a
complete survey of these quarries, but had made careful copies of all the
more important inscriptions ready for publication — dirty dogs!’ He later
rather understates the mood in the Survey’s camp at El-Bersha: ‘More-
over this unfortunate incident brought about an unpleasant feeling in our
camp — an atmosphere less genial than heretofor.’ 13

The tense situation did not last for more than a few days into the new
year. Newberry left El-Bersha for Cairo and then London on a journey he
had undertaken to make in any case during January in order to advance the
preparation of the first volume of the Beni Hasan publication. But he left
as if for good, furious with Blackden and Fraser, and wholly disenchanted
with what he thought to be disingenuous behaviour by Grebaut over the
discovery of the tomb of Akhenaten, which was finally ‘announced’ in
January. 14 At the turn of the year Howard Carter also left the Survey camp
to enter upon yet another, somewhat unexpected, stage in his archaeolog-
ical initiation. What a first season it was turning out to be!

13 For a fuller treatment of the Hatnub incident, see T. G. H. James, ‘The discovery and
identification of the Alabaster Quarries of Hatnub’, in Melanges Jacques Jean Clere
0 CRIPEL 13, 1991), pp. 79 ff.

14 For Newberry’s annoyance and Petrie’s comments on the behaviour of Fraser and
Grebaut, see Drower Flinders Petrie, pp. 192f. Newberry’s letter of resignation to Miss
Edwards, written from El-Bersha, is dated 4 January 1892; in E.E.S. Archives XVII d
22 .

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

In the summer of 1891 Flinders Petrie had written to Amelia B.
Edwards, the dynamic joint Secretary of the Egypt Exploration Fund,
offering to take a young potential archaeologist to work with him for a
season. The advantages of such an arrangement, freely offered, were
singularly attractive to Miss Edwards, and represented a gesture of
exceptional generosity on Petrie’s part. He had ceased to work for the
Fund in 1886 after a serious difference of opinion with the Committee
over policies and procedures. Nevertheless he retained a benevolent
interest in the work of the Fund both for its intrinsic importance and
also for his affection towards Miss Edwards. Petrie could see among
those working in the field for the Fund in 1891 nobody who had the
talent to become a serious field archaeologist, and he was not so modest
as to believe that a nominee with talent, working under his tutelage,
might not become a useful field-worker for the Fund. 1:1

To begin with Miss Edwards had contemplated the detachment of M.
W Blackden from the Archaeological Survey to work with Petrie at
El-Amarna. Blackden was an artist who had volunteered his services for
the work at Beni Hasan. Newberry was especially pleased with his ability
to make faithful water-colour copies of details of the paintings in the
Beni Hasan tombs, and had conceived the idea, with F. LI. Griffith, of
publishing a collection of copies of the coloured hieroglyphs found in
the fine painted tombs of Middle Egypt. Unfortunately the alliance
Blackden developed with Willoughby Fraser, and their consequent
behaviour in camp, which so much upset Newberry, led to a modifica-
tion of the plan to take advantage of Petrie’s offer. Blackden ceased to be
such an attractive possibility to be trained as an excavator for the Fund.
Unexpectedly, therefore, Howard Carter found himself being offered to
Petrie, although not quite in the role first proposed in the discussions
between Petrie and Miss Edwards.

Neither Blackden nor Carter had any experience of excavation; both
were artists and were employed by the Egypt Exploration Fund as artists.
But excavators just did not grow on trees in the late nineteenth century.
To be an Egyptologist was sufficient qualification to be an excavator in
Egypt. It did not matter whether the individual scholar’s special interest
and competence lay in the field of history or in that of the ancient
language, and few would have considered that excavation needed special
training or technical knowledge. Flinders Petrie understood, long before

15 For Petrie’s offer, see Drower, Flinders Petrie, p. 186; for his difficulties in 1886 with the

Committee of the E.E.F., op. cit., pp. 99ff.

HOWARD CARTER

it was generally accepted, that a good desk-scholar might not necessarily
make a good field-worker; but potential field-workers had to be found,
encouraged and trained. The prospect of having an artist as a field
apprentice had at least the attraction of having someone to train who
started with an ability to observe; and to be able to draw has never been
a drawback to the excavator.

Petrie had looked forward with some expectation to being joined by
Blackden. He was alone with his Egyptian workmen at El-Amarna and,
while he did not especially mind the solitary state, he could appreciate the
possibility of extending his work with a second pair of European hands.
As late as 12 December he still hoped that Blackden would come, and on
that day was able to discuss the possibility with him and Newberry when
they visited his camp. A problem, however, lay in the need for Blackden
to obtain permission from the Committee of the Fund for leave of
absence from the Archaeological Survey. In his journal of the season
Petrie comments: 16 ‘There is also the prospect of another digger coming
here to work under my permit, but independendy of my own work.’ This
was a clear reference to the possibility of Howard Carter’s joining him.

Blackden’s uncertainty about going to El-Amarna may, in fact, reflect
not so much his inability to secure the Committee’s permission at this
late date, as Iris own uncertain future as a member of the Archaeological
Survey. It was, after all, by Petrie’s and Miss Edwards’s initiative that the
idea of having someone trained by Petrie had been floated. On 18
November 1891 Amelia Edwards had written to Newberry: 17

I am by no means indifferent to the great advantage it would be to the
Fund to have an explorer trained by Mr. Petrie. His pupil would be
invaluable to us; but I still hope that some way may be found to
procure this advantage without injury to the interests of the Archaeol-
ogical Survey.

The Vay’ by which this advantage might be obtained was to allow
Blackden to work first with Petrie and then to complete his Survey work
in the summer of 1892. It was not to be.

At about the same time Mr William Tyssen-Amherst indicated an
interest in Petrie’s work at El-Amarna, and he proposed that he might

16 The journal for 1891/2 is in the Grifth institute (I, x); I am grateful to Miss Drower
for the loan of a photocopy.

17 G.I. Newberry Corr. 13/24.

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

contribute funds towards the excavations in the expectation that he
would receive antiquities for his Egyptian collection at Didlington Hall.
The formulation of this idea of co-operation may have sprung naturally
from Amherst’s wish to enlarge his collections, but it is not unreasonable
to suggest that the principal promoter of the plan was Percy Newberry,
friend of the Amhersts and near neighbour of Petrie in the field. To what
extent Howard Carter figured in the original conception cannot now be
determined, but in the end his presence at El-Bersha as part of
Newberry’s team made him a convenient possible participant.

Petrie saw Amherst’s involvement as being rather less than a regular
partnership, and the agreement which was quickly and satisfactorily
worked out was rather unusual even for the late nineteenth century when
informality and even irregularity were characteristic elements in arrange-
ments for working in the field. In his wish to be associated with the work
at El-Amarna, Amherst was probably fired more distinctly by a desire to
obtain antiquities than a wish to support altruistically Petrie’s researches.
Support from businessmen and industrialists had regularly helped Petrie
to work in Egypt in the years before and after his employment by the
Egypt Exploration Fund; and it was his practice to see that his backers
were suitably recompensed with some of the fruits of his excavations.
There was nothing improper in this practice, although Petrie himself had
a clear idea of the priorities in the disposal of his most important finds,
after the needs of the Antiquities Service had been met. For Amherst the
arrangements were different, and their unusual features may have been
influenced by the involvement of Howard Carter. Petrie was undoubt-
edly dubious about the young man’s suitability for excavation, as he made
clear later; but he had met him with Newberry on a number of occasions
from late November onwards, and saw the two on almost a daily basis
from 19 December until the end of the year. 18

In his journal for the period 21—27 December Petrie records, after
noting that Blackden will not join him:

But Mr. Tyssen Amherst wishes to do a little here under my permis-
sion [i.e. his excavation permit], and so Mr. Carter is to come here and
work, not exactly with me, but on parts of the ground which I may
assign to him. I having no responsibilities about his work except to the
Government here.

18 Petrie’s pocket diary for 1891—2 (in the Petrie Museum, University College London)
records meetings on 19—23 December and 26—29 December.

HOWARD CARTER

He says further in the journal entry for 3—9 January 1892, after recording
Carter’s arrival in his camp:

His position here is to be as agent for Mr. Tyssen Amherst M.P.; he
[i.e. Amherst] takes much interest in Tell Amarna, and had wished to
work here. Hearing of this I offered to him to allow him to appoint a
worker to dig for him under my permission, provided I controlled the
work and had the exhibiting and publishing of what was found. Thus I
expand the amount of ground worked and the information without
any responsibility or expense to myself.

In this same entry Petrie offers his opinion on his new associate in exca-
vation:

Mr. Carter is a good-natured lad, whose interest is entirely in painting
and natural history; he only takes up this digging as being on the spot
and convenient to Mr. Amherst, and it is of no use to me to work him
up as an excavator.

This was, to say the least, a premature judgement, written before Carter
had started work on his own, and based presumably on what Petrie had
been able to get out of him during his early encounters in Newberry’s
company and on his behaviour during his first few days in camp, when
his time had been engrossed by domestic activities. It would have been
natural for the young man to speak mostly about the things he under-
stood best — painting and natural history. It would perhaps have been a
little early for him to express opinions on excavations.

On Amherst’s side, the proposal for his association with Petrie’s work
suited him well enough. He was being offered his own sector at El-
Amarna to be worked on by Howard Carter in whom he could recognize
an ‘agent’ (as Petrie described him) who would be a diligent representa-
tive of his interests. On 23 December he wrote to Newberry: 19

Your welcome letter reached me yesterday and I at once sent you a
telegram viz. ‘Newberry Der Moes Upper Egypt I accept Petrie’s offer
let Howard Carter commence under him’ . . .

19 G.I. Newberry Corr. 2/72.

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

You are quite right that I wished to help Mr. Petrie in the excavation
and to get if I could some fresh monuments of the past for my
museum.

I have therefore much pleasure in accepting Mr. Petrie’s offer which
I think is very clearly stated and if you will kindly arrange that Howard
Carter should work for me under him I shall be much obliged. It will
save a great deal of delay and expense and under such guidance and
the experience he has had with you he should be able to do well.

After stating the procedures for paying £200 to Petrie, Amherst adds:

and now as to Mr. Carter will you kindly make the arrangements with
him — if of course Mr. Petrie agrees and let me know what you think
he should have and if he agrees to work for it. Is his return passage
already arranged by those for whom he went out? How long will he be
able to work? I am afraid I am giving you a great deal of trouble but I
do not know how else to arrange for my excavation. I shall hope to
hear from you shortly.

It is astonishing to see with what speed the Petrie-Amherst agreement
was concluded, in view of the fact that Amherst was at Didlington and all
the negotiations were carried out by Newberry. In less than a month all
was agreed, and on 2 January 1892 Howard Carter joined Petrie from El-
Bersha, seeing himself as Amherst’s representative on what the latter
already chose proprietorily to call ‘my excavation’. According to his late
autobiographical sketch, Carter was treated by Petrie to begin with not as
part of his camp but as a kind of adjunct. He was to live separately from
Petrie, prepare his own meals — which in practice meant opening his own
tins of food - do his own cleaning and other household chores. And to
start with he had to build his own quarters. Petrie describes his own
methods of construction at El-Amarna, rather proudly, thus: 211

Such rooms can be built very quickly; a hut twelve feet by eight taking
only a few hours. The bricks can be brought at tenpence a thousand;
the boys make a huge mud pie, a line of bricks is laid on the ground, a
line of mud poured over them, another line of bricks is slapped down
in the mud so as to drive it up the joints, and thus a wall of headers,
with an occasional course of stretchers to bind it, is soon run up. The

20 W. M. F. Petrie, Tell el A.marna (London, 1894), p. 1.

HOWARD CARTER

roof is made of boards, covered with durra stalks to protect them
from the sun; and the hut is ready for use, with a piece of canvas over
the doorway. Such a place is far better than a tent to live in; and on
leaving we found that every native was so afraid that we might give
away die materials to someone else, that we had offers for all our
bricks, boards, and straw, at nearly the new price.

Throughout his lifetime in the field Petrie prided himself on such parsi-
monious activities, which he regarded as pragmatically sensible. Howard
Carter was not built of such austere stuff, and could not comprehend the
wisdom of spending time on this kind of activity, which could be done far
more quickly and more efficiently by local workmen. Equally he
marvelled at Petrie’s unwillingness to use the local means of transport, the
donkey, when walking would suffice. Virtue lay in doing things oneself
and in achieving singular feats of physical activity even if they were not
really necessary. In a note to Newberry, written on 14 February 1892,
Carter acknowledges a letter and adds: ‘Please excuse scribble as I am just
home from walk with Mr. Petrie from 8 am to 8 pm.’ 21 In contemplating
the use of a donkey, Carter thought of it as the sensible way of covering
the two to three miles’ walk daily to and from tire site of excavations. For
the occasional reconnoitring expeditions which Petrie took in the course
of the season, quartering the region and scouring the wadis and hills for
inscriptions and signs of ancient occupation, walking was in every respect
the better way to go. Such no doubt was the ‘walk’ reported by Carter,
and among others was a visit early in the year to the tomb of Akhenaten.

News of the so-called discovery (it had, as Petrie later determined,
been known for several years) was given to Professor A. H. Sayce on
about 20 January by Alexandre Barsanti, a technical employee of the
Antiquities Service, who had been working at the site apparently since
late December 1891. 22 Sayce, an oriental scholar of wide learning who
had recently been appointed Professor of Assyriology at Oxford, spent
some months in Egypt every year, travelling up the Nile in his own
dahabija, visiting the monuments and copying inscriptions. In early 1 892
he was at El-Amarna advising Petrie in textual matters, and was invited
to visit the tomb; Petrie and Howard Carter accompanied him. In his

21 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/ 1 .

22 Archibald Henry Sayce was a British Assyriologist who spent much time almost annually
in Egypt; see Dawson and others, Who Was Who in Egyptology, p. 375. For the discovery of
the tomb, see G. T. Martin, The Royal Tomb at El-A.marna, I, (London 1974) pp. 4ff.

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

description of the visit in his journal Petrie makes no mention of Carter,
but the account he subsequently sent to the Daily Graphic was illustrated
by two topographical sketches and a drawing of part of a scene made by
Carter . 23 Writing to Newberry some days later Carter commented unfa-
vourably on the discovery : 24 ‘The Tomb of Khu-n-aten is a great sell, is
very rough and unfinished ... I have made some drawings for Mr. Petrie
of the Valley and the Tomb.’ These seemingly were the very first
published archaeological drawings from the hand of the young artist-
excavator. The impropriety of sending such an unofficial account of the
tomb to a newspaper probably never struck Petrie. Now, a century later,
it would not be thought at all proper for an unofficial report of an
important discovery to be made in this way. The great archaeologist,
however, surely felt that he had a duty to make the matter known to a
wider public, and any implied impropriety could easily be discounted by
the bungling manner in which the discovery had been handled by the
Antiquities Service. Petrie would certainly not have considered his action
as being in any way the equivalent of the behaviour of Blackden and
Fraser over Hatnub, which he himself had characterised as not leaving ‘a
pleasant taste in the mouth’.

So Petrie had already discovered abilities in this ‘good-natured’ lad
which he could exploit in a positive way. In his publication of the
Amarna excavation he notes that Carter had completed a survey of the
many ancient roads and tracks which criss-crossed and encircled the city
and extended into the hills to quarries and to tombs which were mostly
unfinished. His statement does not make it clear whether this survey was
finished in the following year or at the time of their working together at
El-Amarna, but sadly the timing now matters little for ‘his map with all
his notes was lost in the post ’. 25

Carter’s drawings of the tomb of Akhenaten, executed no doubt in less
than ideal conditions, reveal his talent clearly, and the accuracy of the
copy of the scene is specially commendable if it is compared with the
drawing in the first official publication, prepared under the supervision
of well qualified Egyptologists . 26 In view of this demonstration of

23 Issue for 23 March 1892, pp. 13, 14.

24 Letter of 9 February. I am grateful to Dr Andrew Gordon for allowing me to quote

from this letter which is in his possession.

25 Petrie, Tell el Amarna , p. 4.

26 U. Bouriant, G. Legrain and G. Jequier, Monuments pour servir a T etude du culte dAtounou

en Egypte (Cairo, 1903), I, pi. 10, reproduced in G. T. Martin, Royal Tomb, II, p. 46, also

pis 68, 69.

HOWARD CARTER

competence, it is sad in retrospect to consider that in one matter in
particular Petrie failed to make use of Carter where Carter could have
accomplished a far better job than the great man himself. In the early
days of his work at El-Amarna Petrie had uncovered in the palace a hall
with a very well preserved pavement, painted with remarkable scenes of
plants and animals carried out in a naturalistic style which far exceeded in
beauty and liveliness most Egyptian painting previously discovered.
Petrie held it to be the outstanding find of his season, and he took careful
steps to protect the pavement and to provide walk-ways so that it could
be viewed by visitors without damage to the surface. All this work he
carried out by himself, not trusting the local workmen to do what was
needed with sufficient care. He also spent much time making a faithful
copy of the whole painting and coloured facsimiles of parts of it. The
results, reproduced in his excavation memoir, are good - mercifully so,
for the pavement was later wilfully destroyed - but they would have been
even better had he entrusted the work to Howard Carter. 27 That he did
not make use of Carter’s special talent was surely due in the first place to
his own belief in his ability to carry out all the functions of a field- worker
with more than adequate competence. He, after all, had found the pave-
ment, and it was his responsibility to record it. But he probably also felt
that he had no right to divert Carter from his principal duty of working
separately for Amherst.

The special areas allocated to Carter as Amherst’s ‘glebe’ or portion
comprised the great temple and some parts of the town. The responsi-
bility for a youth of seventeen and a half was awesome. From Petrie’s
diary his programme can be charted in outline: Jan. 2, Carter arrives; Jan.
3, Carter builds house; Jan. 12, Carter begins work. From his own late
sketch, Carter makes it clear that he received about one week’s instruc-
tion from Petrie before he was thrown in at the deep end and expected
to get on with it. There is, sadly, neither in Petrie’s journal or his
published report, nor in Carter’s sketch, any indication of how the
Amherst side-show was supervised. In the journal Petrie wrote up every
few days is an account in varying detail of the progress of his own work,
and it is not possible to distinguish at any point whether or not he is
talking about something which might have happened, or been turned up,
in the Amherst sector. He regularly mentions the expeditions he made
with Carter into the desert and the hills encircling the Amarna plain and
their identifying the great boundary inscriptions. In the entry for the days

27 See D rower, Flinders Petrie, pp. 191—2, 197.

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

24-30 January he writes at some length about a plaster face brought to
him by one of the men. It seems to have been a casual Snd not an
excavated piece, but Petrie was sufficiently intrigued to call in Carter to
discuss it; he ‘is accustomed to casts. We conclude that without any
doubt it is a direct cast from KHUENATEN’s [i.e. Akhenaten’s] OWN
FACE, taken after death.’ Petrie would certainly have revised this opinion
in the light of subsequent discussions of the plaster faces discovered at
El-Amarna by the German excavators before the First World War; but at
this point it is interesting to see that he considered Carter’s opinions on
technique and casting procedures worthy of note. Carter told Newberry
that he thought this discovery better than the tomb: ‘I don’t think they,
can beat that? 2i

Carter confesses in his autobiographical sketch that his early efforts at
excavation were Vide of the mark and to litde or no purpose’, but some
success attended his later work, in which he was assisted by a few of
Petrie’s own trained diggers. Of successes he mentions in the sketch
there were, in particular, the discovery of Aegean pottery, of considerable
importance for comparative dating; the identification of the remains of
glass manufactories; the partial contents of a sculptor’s workshop; and a
deposit of royal sculpture in a ditch by the Great Temple. 29 The last
discovery contained fragments of wonderful hard limestone statues of
Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, which were to become important addi-
tions to Amherst’s collection at Didlington Hall. Everything in fact
conspired to intensify Carter’s interest in excavation. In his letter to
Newberry, pardy quoted earlier, he confesses: As regards the work I like
it very much indeed and find it very exciting. I did not find anything of
any great value till yesterday. One of my men found another gold ring’ —
here he draws the legend on the ring-bezel — ‘I have 22 men working for
me now and hope to get more this week.’ 511

In his varied discoveries Carter exhibited the kind of luck which often
attends the excavator who works broadly, without a precise and well
defined purpose on a virgin site, as El-Amarna was at that time. To what

28 For a useful summary of later studies, see C. Aldred, Akhenaten, King of Egypt (2nd
ed., London, 1988), p. 57; id. Akhenaten and Nefertiti (London, 1973), p. 43. The face is
illustrated as the frontispiece of Petrie, Tell el Amarna. Carter’s comment is included in
the letter mentioned in n. 24 above.

29 All these particular discoveries are properly reported and considered in Petrie, Tell el
Amarna , pp. 15—17, 25f£, 30—1, 18.

30 Petrie’s drawing of the design on the ring is published in Tell el Amarna , pi. XIV, 31.
Squatting figures of Akhenaten and Nefertiti face each other below a sun disc.

HOWARD CARTER

extent he was guided in detail by Petrie cannot now be established, but
just to have such a man available for consultation and reference was no
small advantage for a beginner. There were also many opportunities
during the long walks the two took together for the exposition of much
wisdom, imparted casually and as such being more easily given and
readily absorbed. Carter in later life certainly appreciated the quality of
his early instruction: ‘Petrie’s training during those months of hard work
transformed me, I believe, into something of the nature of an investi-
gator - to dig and examine systematically.’

Further opportunities for the acquisition of mature wisdom were
provided at El-Amarna by the social contacts with a succession of visi-
tors, learned and grand, who arrived in a sequence to inspect the site and
even to visit the royal tomb. The convenient landing point was at the
village of El-Hagg Qandil, near which Petrie’s camp was established.
More or less centrally placed for visits to the city, it was where Sayce and
others berthed their dahabiyas. Some visitors, like Sayce, the Revd Greville
Chester 31 and Charles Edwin Wilbour 32 were knowledgeable and very
welcome; others, like Mr Aquila Dodgson,” were enthusiastic amateurs
who had independent means and had been active in raising funds for
Egyptology in England. The Spicers, who spent several days at El-
Amarna in Sayce’s company, were wealthy sightseers; the Marquis of
Waterford with a large party could not be ignored . 34 Most of these
visitors distracted Petrie from his work, but some would help in one way
or another, and most were generous with hospitality on their boats. It has
been remarked of Petrie at that time that, ‘Never before had he eaten so
well and lived so social a life in the wilderness; never again was he to do
so .’ 35 Carter was not omitted from at least some of these entertainments,
and he noted that he was rescued from one particularly nasty bout of

31 The Revd Greville Chester wintered regularly during the second half of the nineteenth
century in Egypt, collecting and selling antiquities to cover his expenses; see T.G.H.
James, The British Museum and Ancient Egypt (London, 1981), pp. 20ff:

32 Charles Edwin Wilbour, an American businessman, travelled regularly in Egypt for many
years until his death in 1896; see Dawson and others, Who Was Who in Egyptology, p. 440.

33 For Aquila Dodgson, an English Congregational Minister with strong Egyptological
interests, see Dawson and others. Who Was Who in Egyptology, p. 126.

34 The 5th Marquis of Waterford visited Egypt with members of his family in 1891—2
and 1892—3. He was seriously injured in a hunting accident and was accompanied by
his doctor. I am grateful to the present Lord Waterford for drawing attention to Victo-
rian Days by his great-aunt Lady Clodagh Anson (2nd ed., London, 1957). Chapter VI
deals charmingly, but briefly, with the visits to Egypt and life on the Nile.

35 So Drower, Flinders Petrie, p. 194.

EGYPT: THE BEGINNINGS

illness by the physician who travelled as part of Lord Waterford’s entou-
rage. Dr Bridgeman found young Carter physically exhausted and
mentally depressed, and prescribed ‘Valentine’s meat juice, champagne,
and a Tonic’, items not commonly found in Petrie’s provision boxes.

Carter quickly recovered his health under such careful attention; but
later there was to be one other serious reason for his feeling depressed.
Towards the end of the season news reached him that his father had
died. The cable which Petrie handed him did not come as a complete
surprise; it was a second stroke that his father had suffered. He died on 1
May; he was only 57, a good but not particularly old age for late Victo-
rian times. In his letters and in his autobiographical sketches Howard
Carter reveals little of his emotions on hearing die news. It may indeed
have been a psychological weakness on his part that he suppressed his
feelings beyond reason. At severe crises in his life extreme self-control
and an apparent inability to share his sorrow or anger with others
resulted in eruptions of unreasonable temper. On the subject of his
father’s death he reports his sadness briefly with only a laconic comment
on the transitory nature of life. He does say, however, that Petrie, when
he brought the news, displayed ‘a shade of inexpressible sadness in his
utterance’. So may Petrie have been contemplating the death of his own
mother, and that of Amelia Edwards, his old ally and friend. The former
had died early in March, and the latter in mid-April. Both losses were
grievous for him.

Excavation on the Amarna site wound down in early April, although
occasional discoveries continued to be made. Such was reported by
Carter to Newberry on 7 April: 36

The work is coming to an end now, and we are hard at work packing. I
found a very interesting tablet with Ivhuenaten seated upon a throne
dancing the Queen upon Inis knee with the two Princesses upon her
lap. I am sorry to say that the heads are broken off; Petrie says he does
not know anything like it in Egypt.

Petrie’s assessment remains true today; it was a piece which, even in its
damaged state, would make a valuable addition to the Amherst collection
in due course. For the rest, Petrie and Carter concentrated on tidying up
outstanding matters, completing drawings and other records, and making

36 G. 1. Newberry Corr. 8/3. The tablet is now in the Louvre, no. E. 11624; see Aldred,
Akhenaten endTSSefertiti, p. 134 (no. 56).

HOWARD CARTER

boxes for the transport of the antiquities found during the season. It was
characteristic of Petrie to make his own boxes from timber purchased
locally, Carter was expected to do die same, and from entries in Petrie’s
diary it emerges that for many days Carter worked on boxes on his own,
as Petrie was unwell with a bad foot. Carpentry and packing occupied
much of the last six weeks of the season, interspersed with occasional
days spent on drawing and on trips on foot to continue the exploration
of the surrounding hills. On 20 May Petrie notes in his diary the dispatch
of 125 boxes by boat; a further consignment was sent on 28 May. It was
probably this second dispatch about which Carter reported in his sketch,
offering a further example of Petrie’s practical ingenuity. A group of 36
cases was taken to the local railway station on the west bank of the Nile;
permission to dispatch 35 cases had been granted by the Antiquities
Service. The station-master refused to accept 36 cases. So Petrie went
out and bought some lengths of wood and nailed two cases together,
thereby reducing the consignment to the acceptable 35. On the next day,
29 May, they left for Cairo.

So ended Howard Carter’s first season in Egypt. It had been, to say the
least, eventful. He had been introduced to life in the field, initiated into
the currently acceptable techniques of copying for the Archaeological
Survey of the Egypt Exploration Fund (and taken an instant dislike to
them), spent five months with Flinders Petrie and learned much about
excavation methods (and how to rough it unnecessarily); he had partici-
pated in interesting discoveries, observed painful controversies, accepted
considerable responsibilities. He was launched on the rising tide of
Egyptological activities. But what would happen next? In Cairo he found
a letter from Percy Newberry waiting for him, and on 30 May he
answered, ‘I am much obliged to you for your kind offer and would be
very glad to take up the work.’ 37

37 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/2.

CONSOLIDATION AND
DIVERSIFICATION

After a few months of anguish at the start of 1 892 Percy Newberry found
himself once again established as Surveyor, the principal field-officer of
the Archaeological Survey, by the late spring of that year. His letter of
resignation to Amelia Edwards was never seriously considered, but he
had in the meanwhile written petulandy to the newspapers about what he
considered to have been unprincipled behaviour by Eugene Grebaut in
connection with the discovery of the tomb of Akhenaten and its public
announcement. Newberry’s behaviour itself was an embarrassment to the
Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund, and a form of reprimand was
inflicted on him. But the replacement of Grebaut by Jacques de Morgan,
a scholar worthy of much greater respect, obviated a serious difference
between the Fund and the Antiquities Service. The death of Amelia
Edwards further led to a closing of ranks and a determination on the part
of the Fund’s officers and workers to ensure that her years of dedication
to Egypt should not be dissipated by petty wrangling. In addition, Fraser
and Blackden, who had rendered Newberry’s last season so miserable,
had themselves left the service of the Archaeological Survey, and no
longer threatened to disrupt any future work in Middle Egypt. There
were to be problems over work left unfinished by Fraser and Blackden,
but these were small clouds that had not yet appeared in a sky which for
Newberry must have increasingly promised halcyon days.

Plans could now be made for future work, both in Egypt and in
England; but a degree of reconstruction was needed. At this moment
Howard Carter was again available after his five months of ‘training’ with
Petrie. He was, at the end of this period, if not purified by the fire of
Petrie’s obsessive parsimony and practicality, then at least fully tempered
in the furnace of the great man’s passion and commitment. He had been
lucky in enjoying the instruction, even companionship, of the one man

HOWARD CARTER

working in the field in Egypt who had a conception of archaeological
purpose far beyond that of any of his contemporaries. His experience on
the staff of the Archaeological Survey had been less intensive, less
edifying, and less productive. Nevertheless, it was to that staff that he
had first been appointed, and he had more than adequately demonstrated
to Newberry that he was capable of doing a good job. What Newberry
now had it in mind for him — presumably set out in the letter which
Carter had answered from Cairo in late May - may have been his being
kept on for the summer to complete and ink in the drawings from Beni
Hasan and EkBersha, and his engagement for the next winter season.

There had been no commitment by the Egypt Exploration Fund to
continue Carter’s employment in any capacity after the end of the first
season. In fact, however, the Fund had received only a partial fulfilment
of Carter’s obligation because of his detachment to Petrie at El-Amarna,
and its officers, as well as Newberry, may have felt that a balance of time
was owed by Carter. It was not the practice of the Fund, as indeed it has
not commonly been of its linear successor, the Egypt Exploration
Society, to employ field-workers on long-term contracts. All appoint-
ments were temporary, but renewable. And so with Carter; the
Committee at a meeting on 26 July resolved that he should be employed
at a remuneration of £ 1 per week to assist Newberry in the inking-in of
his tracings. This decision was in direct response to a letter from
Newberry. It would be dull and uncongenial work for the young Carter,
but at least it kept him in touch with the Fund and reinforced his claims
for future employment. In effect it secured his attachment to the Fund
for the next seven years, during which time his annually renewed engage-
ment amounted almost to regular employment on a permanent basis.
Still, as a very young man he was regarded as the ‘boy’ of the Fund’s
field-workers, and capable of being treated in a rather informal way, as
was indeed commonly the case with juniors at that time.

The staff of the Archaeological Survey returned to Egypt in
December 1892, with rather ambitious plans to extend the work from
El-Bersha to the rock-tombs at El-Amarna, to those at El-Sheikh Said,
an intermediate site also on the east bank of the Nile, and even further
south to tombs in the more mountainous region of the Gebel Abu Foda,
about 30 miles upstream from El-Amarna. The staff members for this
season were very different from the mutinous crew of the previous year.

1 See generally, Newberry’s report on the Archaeological Survey for the season 1892—3,

E.E.S. Archives I a 2.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

Newberry’s brother John, a qualified architect, was to work with the
Survey for some weeks before moving on to Deir ehBahri at Thebes, the
new Fund excavation to be directed by Edouard Naville. Howard Carter
travelled out with the Newberrys from Naples; at Cairo they were joined
by Percy Buckman, a topographical artist who was to take the place of
Blackden. It was a strong, although generally less experienced, team, with
the potential abilities to accomplish much in a single season. Poor organ-
ization unfortunately frustrated good intention, and one side-show
involving Howard Carter went badly wrong. A casual attitude towards
the announcing of plans, and to the application for permissions to work,
lay at the heart of the matter; perhaps also insufficient secretarial prepa-
ration in London following the death of the admirably active Amelia
Edwards. She had been succeeded for practical purposes by her friend
Emily Paterson, who had been her own secretary for a number of years.

When Newberry presented himself at the Cairo Museum to receive his
licence to work for the season, he found that a new rule, previously
unannounced, required him to obtain the formal authority of the new
Director-General before any work could be started. In those relatively
early days of field activities by foreign organizations, there seemed to be
no formal set of procedures that had to be followed as a regular practice.
Rules were changed and modified almost at the whim of the authorities
of the Antiquities Service. Petrie had complained bitterly of the unac-
ceptably changing requirements laid down by Grebaut, the lately super-
seded Director-General. Unfortunately, things had been much more
casual during the regime of Gaston Maspero (1881-6), and now a tight-
ening of controls — almost certainly necessary — was seen to be not only
deliberately obstructive, but also typical of French so-called intransi-
gence. The running of a state antiquities organization, the first of its
kind, became inevitability an uncertain process as the work of foreign
expeditions developed. So many differing expectations had to be satis-
fied; and if the personalities involved were as varied (to consider only
those working for the Egypt Exploration Fund) as the prickly, idiosyn-
cratic Petrie, the mild but touchy Newberry, or the scholarly and superfi-
cially undemanding Naville, there was small hope of achieving a
consensus of views from which a set of rules acceptable to all could be
derived. Successive Directors-General were obliged both to unpick the
more unreasonable of existing practices, and to devise new regulations to
stabilize procedures. The pattern of change and uncertainty was to
continue, and many excavators would claim still one hundred years later

HOWARD CARTER

that the often unpredictable requirements of the Egyptian Antiquities
Organization (successor of the old Antiquities Service) represent a
serious impediment to regular field-work in Egypt.

The thought that permission to work on the planned sites might be
refused had never entered Newberry’s mind. So, after setting out his
plans in writing for de Morgan, who was on tour of inspection at Aswan,
he moved south and established the Survey’s camp at Beni Hasan, a site
for which the previous season’s permit remained valid. Almost three
weeks were spent preparing colour facsimiles of scene-details and of
coloured hieroglyphs - work for which Howard Carter was ideally suited.
Then, still without formal permission, the camp was transferred to the
village of El-Till in the Amarna plain and close to the northern group of
tombs which had been prepared for great officials who had served
Akhenaten during the brief existence of the ancient city of Akhetaten.
Newberry with Carter began copying the scenes and inscriptions in these
tombs on 25 January 1893, and on the 28th they received at last de
Morgan’s reply: permission was refused on the grounds that he had
provisionally promised a permit to another scholar. Already, however, to
quote Newberry’s report on the season, Sve had measured and planned
several of the tombs, copied many of the inscriptions and reproduced in
colour some of the fresco paintings.’ This small initial work would in due
course be used when finally, eight years later, the Fund received permis-
sion to work on the Amarna tombs and boundary inscriptions. By then
Maspero would again be Director-General, and the work would be
carried out by Norman de Garis Davies, Newberry’s successor as
Surveyor to the Fund. 2

Thus was Newberry frustrated in his hope of working at El- Amarna,
and on 4 February he moved camp to El-Sheikh Said. His vexation was
then further increased by a development which would again deny him
the services of Howard Carter for several months. On 6 February
Newberry travelled to Cairo to see if anything could be done to reverse
the decision on El- Amarna. En route , at the railway station of Mallawi, the
largest provincial town close to El-Amarna, he received a letter from H.
A. Grueber, the Fund’s Honorary Treasurer, requesting him to arrange
for Carter to leave El-Sheikh Said at once to join Guthrie Roger in Cairo.
It is not clear from surviving evidence whether Newberry had earlier

2 The six volumes of The Rock-Tombs of El Amarna by Norman de Garis Davies were

published between 1903 and 1908. Two further volumes in the series. The Royal Tomb at

El-Amarna by G. T. Martin, appeared in 1974 and 1989.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

received any hint of what was being decided in London. Sadly, it must be
said, the Egypt Exploration Fund’s field-workers were frequently treated
in a somewhat arbitrary manner by the Committee in London; many of
its members had never been to Egypt and seemed to think that their
deliberations were absolute, and that communication with their repre-
sentatives in the field was as simple as writing to Scotland or Cornwall. It
is true that for the most part letters travelled from London to the
remotest places in Middle Egypt in a very few days, and were delivered
with great reliability; but losses undoubtedly occurred from time to time.
Little allowance was made for such eventualities. The instructions
involving Carter certainly seem to have come as a surprise to Newberry,
whose plans for the season were in consequence thrown into disarray. As
for Howard Carter, he was being transferred as the Fund’s ‘reserve’
archaeologist to carry out a piece of work in the Delta for which he was
scarcely prepared, and concerning which no adequate arrangements had
been made from London.

The story goes back to the spring of 1892 when Edouard Naville was
engaged in his last campaign of survey and excavation in the Delta.
Among the sites which occupied his attention was that of Mendes, the
ancient capital of the XVIth nome of Lower Egypt, and the centre of
worship of the great ram god Banebded. Of the two great mounds which
together may be characterized as the metropolitan district of the nome
capital, Tell el-Ruba is more precisely to be identified as Mendes (the
classical name for the site), while Tell Timai el-Amdid is the classical
Thmuis. Naville’s work was largely confined to the latter mound, and he
paid some attention to a series of subterranean chambers containing
huge quantities of papyri, mostly in a carbonized, very friable condition,
due possibly to deliberate burning in antiquity. From his report on these
chambers, which he chose to call the ‘library of Mendes’, it seems clear
that he did not discover them, but did consider clearing what remained
of their contents: 3

They are most difficult to take out, they crumble to pieces when they
are loosened from the earth which covers them, but by looking side-
ways the characters are still discernible; they generally are Greek in
good handwriting. . . I tried to see whether some of the carbonised
papyri, well packed in cotton, would stand a journey, but the contents

3 E.E.F. Arch. Rep. 1892-1893, p. 4.

HOWARD CARTER

of the five boxes which I sent to London are nothing but crumbs of
charcoal and ashes.

The impression given by Naville’s brief account is that he lacked the
practical abilities, and almost certainly the courage, to proceed with a
comprehensive clearance of the chambers. Attempts had already been
made to remove portions of the extraordinary archive in the preceding
few years, with very little success, and there seems to have been a contin-
uing plundering of the pitiful remains both by scholarly visitors and by
the representatives of antiquities dealers. The outlook for the papyri was
bleak, possibly hopeless, but Naville, inspired perhaps by his own inade-
quate efforts, and certainly reacting to taunts from Petrie, suggested to
the Egypt Exploration Fund that something further should be done.

The minutes of a committee meeting on 12 January 1893 record a
letter from Naville about the papyrus chambers. It was proposed that a
subcommittee ‘be authorised to settle what should be done in the
matter’, and it was further suggested that Mr Howard Carter should be
instructed to meet Mr Hunt at Timai el-Amdid. Arthur Surridge Hunt, a
recently graduated classical scholar of Oxford University, was at this time
at the very beginning of his career as a palaeographer. He and Bernard
Grenfell were to become the founders of modern studies in Greek papy-
rology in Britain, and the outstanding publishers of Greek papyri, partic-
ularly in the Fund’s series Oxyriynchus Papyri , 4 Hunt was 21 in early 1893,
three years older than Howard Carter; but the latter knew Egypt from
one season, and had earned his excavation spurs with Petrie; he had also
acquired an adequate speaking knowledge of Arabic. The deliberations
of the Fund’s Committee may be imagined: Naville’s letter was an embar-
rassment, raising a piece of unfinished business which, if left unfinished,
would surely result in the eventual loss of the remaining papyri. What
could be done? Someone with experience should deal with the organiza-
tion and supervision of the work; someone who knew something about
Greek papyri should be there to examine the papyrus rolls as they were
extracted and even copy what could be made out before any were again
subjected to the hazards of transport, leading probably to disintegration.
For the excavator, Howard Carter seemed just right; for the palaeogra-
pher, Hunt seemed ideal — he was already known to be a more than
competent reader of Greek texts on papyrus, and he was, temporarily,

4 Volume 1 of Oxyrhynchus Papyri was published in 1898. The series continues; vol. 66
appeared in 1999.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

working in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum.
There is no indication that either of the proposed ‘rescuers’ had been
approached, and it is almost certain that Carter was never asked whether
he wished to be detached from the Archaeological Survey. He was, after
all, young enough to be told what to do. As for Hunt, it turned out that
he was not able to go. Grueber reported so to the Committee on 1
February, and stated at the same time that the sub-committee had
decided that Mr Roger ‘should receive instructions from Mr. Hunt on
the handling and packing of the papyri and that he should join Mr. Carter
at Tmei el Amdid as soon as possible. Mr. Roger left England on the
24th Jan. for Egypt.’

Thus began a kind of sad pantomime, a travesty of an expedition -
Carter’s first ‘command’ in the field — which reflected little credit on the
Egypt Exploration Fund beyond a few moderate marks for good inten-
tions. Not least among the uncertainties of the scheme was Mr Roger
himself. Guthrie Roger is one of the shadowy characters of early field-
work in Egypt. From his behaviour at Mendes it would seem that he was
not well chosen, and that he was ill-fitted for the trials of the campd It
would, however, be singularly unfair to pillory him for his disinclinations
and short-comings, because he certainly appears to have been a victim of
those circumstances that attended the beginning of the enterprise. He
arrived in Cairo on 2 February 1893, on what was presumably his first
visit to Egypt, to find, as so many of his successors have found, that
there was no room at the inn (the Royal Hotel) to which he had been
instructed to proceed. So, with some show of initiative, he took up lodg-
ings at the Hotel de l’Orient and wrote to Newberry, still in Middle
Egypt, announcing his arrival and declaring that he would wait until
Carter arrived before doing anything substantive for the expedition. 5 6 All
these preliminaries had taken place perhaps before Newberry and Carter
were even aware of what the Committee had decided.

The episode has tire bizarre quality of the old army deception: musical
volunteers are called for; the volunteers find themselves moving a piano.
Howard Carter had not volunteered, but he was assigned a task which
was not lacking in responsibility. He could not have refused. He may

5 Although Carter’s later comment (in the version of his autobiographical sketch in
MMA, Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files) that Roger’s ‘archeological
attributes. . . comprised athletics and dealing with heavy weights’ should have indicated
someone ideally suited for roughing it in camp.

6 G.I. Newberry Corr. 38/97.

HOWARD CARTER

even have welcomed the transfer from the regime of tracing maintained
by Newberry to an independent and superficially important excavating
commission three hundred miles to the north, in the mid-Delta where he
had never previously been. It could have been a piece of work which
would have brought him great credit. On the other hand, he could have
had few illusions about his suitability. He was later to write: 7 ‘My touch,
my fingers and thumbs, were considered apparently sufficiently delicate
to handle such material, about which I knew litde.’ So, courageously he
left El-Sheikh Said and travelled straight to Cairo to join Guthrie Roger.
The details of what happened then are only clear in the most general way.
After obtaining the necessary stores and equipment, Carter and Roger
went to El-Simbillawein, the nearest town to Mendes with a railway
station. From there they carried out reconnaissances at Tell Timai el-
Amdid. Unfortunately, they had been inadequately briefed, and Carter
was soon obliged to write to the Fund’s secretary in London informing
her that he had not been able to find the papyrus chambers ‘owing to
insufficient information’. 8 He also told her that he was seeking to obtain
the necessary permit to work from the Antiquities Service. Nothing had
been done from London to prepare the ground for this hastily arranged
enterprise. The secretary advised Carter to find out more about the
chambers from Naville who was by that time working at Deir el-Bahri.

Although Naville was the obvious person to contact about the loca-
tion of the ‘library’ vaults, notes from Carter to Newberry suggest that a
letter from Petrie, probably addressed to Newberry, contained the most
precise details about the site. On 10 February Carter wrote: ‘As far as I
can see there are 3 or 4 places that might be it, but either of them would
take at least 2 or 3 months to excavate. 9 By the first day of March,
however, Carter had progress to report: ‘I have found the chambers and
they seem very promising. I have not yet received the permit, so I am
unable to start work as the Sheikh will not let me start work till I show
him it.’ He adds, ‘This is a very bad place for tenting as there is no guard
for the wind and the ground is so soft that the pegs will not hold prop-
erly.’ 10 A postscript comments unfavourably on his companion:
‘Camping out is beginning to open Roger’s eyes.’ Some elaboration of
this remark occurs in Carter’s late sketch: he explains that wretchedly wet

7 In his sketch, p. 1 1 in MMA, Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

8 E.E.F. Committee minutes for 28 February 1893.

9 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/5.

10 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/7.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

weather hampered their activities at Mendes, and culminated in a night of
such storms that their tents were blown down, the wretched Roger being
reduced to tears.

All in all the expedition was doomed to failure, and Newberry became
increasingly vexed that his principal assistant was obliged to pass his time
idly in the Delta while much unfinished work awaited him in Middle
Egypt. Howard Carter was equally unhappy. His position was weak; he
found Roger an uncongenial companion and an unsuitable colleague; he
himself carried no weight with the Antiquities Service and could not on
his own standing obtain a permit; the weather was terrible and the site
was infested with jackals. He also felt that his apparent time-wasting with
Guthrie Roger was attracting unfavourable attention in Cairo. Yet there
was little he could do apart from reminding Newberry on the one hand,
and the Committee on the other, that no progress could be made until
his little expedition was formally approved; and no approval would be
given until the Fund’s secretary went through the proper procedures. At
a Committee meeting as late as 7 April letters from both Carter and
Roger were read. The former informed the Committee of a communica-
tion from de Morgan refusing permission because the request had not
come through Mr Poole. Apparently an earlier formal application sent by
telegram had not been signed by Poole. Another therefore should be
sent, properly signed, to be followed by a letter explaining to the
Director-General what the Fund’s intentions were. Roger’s letter pointed
out ‘the waste of time and money owing to the delay in obtaining permis-
sion to work at Mendes’.

It was by now far too late, and in the end Newberry severed the knot
of indecision. On 9 April he wrote to Miss Patersow I 1 1

I have been to the Museum to-day and heard from Mon. Brugsch that
Carter had not yet got permission to work at Timai el-Amdid and
from what I could judge of M. Brugsch ’s behaviour and what I have
heard from other people I do not think that there is the least likeli-
hood of the permission being granted. I therefore telegraphed to Mr.
Griffith saying that I am recalling Carter to join the Survey again. It is
very important that I should have him back at once to do the water-
colour drawings that are needed to complete El-Bersheh: the weather
is getting very hot and I do not want to remain out here after the end
of this month or beginning of May. Of course if the permission is

11 E.E.S. Archives XII f (Archaeological Survey papers for 1893).

HOWARD CARTER

granted whilst Mr. Carter is with me I will at once send him back to
join Mr. Roger at Simballawin. He has been away now more than two
months and not done a stroke of work. He feels this most bitterly as I
know he wanted to show how much and what good work he could
turn out in one season. For three weeks or more he stayed at this hotel
[the Royal] and the remaining time in one of my tents at Timai eh
Amdid. A good many people here know of this and that two men
should be out here doing nothing is really doing untold harm to the
Fund. I am sorry to say this but I fear the state of things can hardly be
realised in England.

At last someone was showing a sense of urgency. On 13 April
Newberry returned to EhSheikh Said with Howard Carter, and two
weeks were spent working on the scenes and inscriptions in the tombs
there. Meanwhile in London confusion persisted. It was assumed, quite
wrongly as it turned out, that the application for work in the Delta would
be granted. Even as early as 11 April, Griffith, the head of the Archaeo-
logical Survey, wrote to Carter: 12

As Newberry will leave Egypt directly you will soon be free again for
Tmei el Amdid and I hope by that time the permission will have been
granted ....

In all probability you will be asked to remain through the summer
for work at Tmei el Amdid; in order to remove the blocks at El
Bersheh, and to finish some matters connected with the Survey. We
shall soon know about this, and I tell you that you may not run away
from Egypt till you hear.

It was just as well that Carter had serious work to engage his time after
his return south from Mendes. Otherwise he would surely have been
allowed to hang around in Cairo waiting for the permission to excavate,
which in fact never came. After El-Sheikh Said and Newberry’s depar-
ture from Egypt, Carter moved camp back to El-Bersha to complete his
facsimile paintings and to copy more of the coloured hieroglyphs for the
projected volume. Already Newberry could trust him to be there on his
own and to work conscientiously. He had written to Miss Paterson in
mid March, 1 ’ ‘until he [Carter] comes back I cannot possibly get El

12 Copy in E.E.S. Letter book.

13 G.I. Newberry Corr. 34/70.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

Bersheh finished, for Mr. Buckman does not know sufficient Arabic to
live there on his own; and too, Carter has the only tent I can spare and it
is necessary to camp there in tents for there are no available tombs.’ By 6
May Carter could report to Newberry that the work was proceeding ‘as
fast as I can’. There was a litde problem over his permit to work even
there ‘so I am working on the quiet, at the same time to shut him [the
local inspector] up I have written a note to Brugsch, but by the time
anything is done I shall have pretty well finished the work.’ 14 At the end
of the letter, he adds mysteriously: ‘Awful joke about Roger, should like
to see the fun.’ It can only be assumed that the ill-fitted Roger had
suffered some calamity in Cairo, or even still at Mendes. Nothing more is
heard of him in the archives of the Fund or in other contemporary
papers. It seems quite wrong that someone who was in all probability a
very decent fellow,, and possibly a promising scholar, should flit so
unsatisfactorily through the wings of the excavation stage in Egypt. The
whole episode can have done his reputation litde good. 15

Although the Mendes fiasco can have done little for Carter’s reputation
either, it did not prevent the consolidation of his position in the Egypt
Exploration Fund. He was still seen principally as an artist and not an
excavator. At the same committee meeting of 7 April 1 893, when the crit-
ical letters of Carter and Roger were read, the decision was taken to retain
the former’s services ‘as Fund artist during the ensuing year, commencing
on Nov. 1st, 1893, at a salary of £100 a year, all authorised travelling
expenses to be defrayed by the Fund, and £2. 2. 0 a week to be paid to
him for living expenses while in Egypt.’ For the moment his future must
have seemed reasonably secure, and there is no indication in the meagre
surviving documents that he felt other than pleased at the prospect. But
matters beyond his control threatened to disturb this situation.

The Archaeological Survey of the Egypt Exploration Fund had been
launched in 1891 as something of a side-line among the Fund’s activities.
Its purpose was taken with the utmost seriousness, but its activities could
not command the popular support which nurtured the Fund’s excava-
tions. Already by 1893 expenses had greatly exceeded estimates, and
contributions were below expectation. More work was being accom-
plished in a season in Egypt than could be published within the Survey’s
budget. A pause was needed for reconsideration and for the reassessment

14 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/12.

15 On Greek papyri recovered from Mendes, see H. De Meulenaere and P. MacKay,

Mendes II (Warminster, 1976), p. 219.

HOWARD CARTER

of aims. A halt was called to active field-work. Francis LI. Griffith, the
principal initiator and the editor of the Survey, later reported: 16

The Survey must still proceed with a close regard for economy. In
England our work has consisted in issuing two volumes of ‘El
Bersheh’, and in preparing for publication a series of coloured facsim-
iles of hieroglyphs and details of scenes at Beni Hasan .... We do not
lose sight of the main object of the Survey, and we hope that funds
will gradually accumulate, and enable us to send out another expedi-
tion, and push the work more actively.

For Howard Carter the decision to suspend field-operations could have
marked the end of his career in Egypt. There remained the completion
for publication of the Beni Hasan and El-Bersha volumes, work that
could in normal circumstances have been carried out during the summer
months out of Egypt. But happily the Fund had now embarked on a new
project, the excavation and recording of the great temple at Deir el-
Bahri, already briefly mentioned, for which more than one artist might
be required. In this major enterprise Carter would find his fulfilment as
an archaeological artist. The work he had already accomplished more
than established his credentials.

At Beni Hasan and El-Bersha Carter had been employed on some of
the routine work of the Survey, tracing the scenes and inscriptions in
tombs, the results of which would eventually be inked in for publication.
He was also employed on the much more skilled work of copying well
preserved parts of the painted scenes, and making careful coloured
facsimiles of hieroglyphs. The first two volumes of Beni Hasan
appeared in 1893 and 1894; they contained the straight black-and-white
copies of the decorations in all the tombs to be published. Carter is
credited with none of the work, which no doubt pleased him, because
the plates represented a style of reproduction of wonderfully executed
and detailed paintings and inscriptions which he found wholly unsatis-
factory. He had, no doubt, been obliged to do some of the inking-in of
the pencilled tracings, but that mechanical process was not acknowl-
edged in the authorship of the volumes. The next two volumes of the
Survey, El Bersheh I and II, both published in 1895, contained the full
record of the tombs at this rocky, remote site. In these Carter had a
substantial hand. Part I contains all his Bersha drawings (the colossus

16 E.E.F. Arch. Rep. 1894-1895 , pp. viif.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

tomb of Djehutihotpe), along with some done by Newberry. A compar-
ison between the work of the two men (which is precisely identified in
the volume), shows clearly, without the need of any special pleading,
that Carter’s drawings are in all respects superior to those of his chief.
Newberry retains for his plates the method of reproduction used in the
Beni Hasan volumes: inscriptions are shown in solid black, male figures
are similarly blocked in, detail is inadequately indicated, line is hesitant.
In Carter’s plates, however, there is clarity, detail, precision, and above
all sureness of draughtsmanship and style. It is not simply a contrast
between a careful, mechanical copyist and a well trained artist; here the
artist himself shows in addition an understanding of, and feeling for, the
spirit of Egyptian art, which Carter had remarkably developed from his
earliest days in Egypt. El Bersheh II contains, in addition to drawings of
the remaining monuments by Newberry, the first serious treatment of
the Hatnub graffiti, which had been published in facsimile copies only
by Fraser and Blackden in the previous year. In the new volume they
were, in a sense, reclaimed for the Archaeological Survey, and dealt with
by Griffith and Newberry with a competence beyond the capabilities of
their discoverers.

Two further Beni Hasan volumes appeared in 1896 and 1900, and the
long-planned collection of hieroglyphs in 1898. All three volumes
contained much work by Howard Carter in the form of coloured facsim-
iles mostly from the Middle-Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan and El-
Bersha. Work by Blackden, Buckman and other artists was also included.
Beni Hasan IV in particular provides first-class examples of Carter’s
water-colour paintings, mostly of zoological details from the tomb of
Khnumhotpe. In spite of the rather dead, dull-toned colour process used
in the printing, his plates represent the very best of early copies of Egyp-
tian painting. The quality of his originals can be studied at the Egypt
Exploration Society, where most of them are preserved. Griffith makes a
telling comment in his introduction to Beni Hasan III, which is mostly
devoted to copies of individual hieroglyphs by Carter and Blackden.
Griffith mentions the damaged state of the tomb walls and the faded
quality of some colours: 17

Under the circumstances it is not surprising if modern copyists obtain

different results from the same subject. Mr. Blackden aimed at ascer-
taining the original design in a somewhat diagrammatic style; Mr.

17 P. E. Newberry, Bent Hasan, III (London, 1896), p. 2.

HOWARD CARTER

Carter and Mr. Brown 18 copy faithfully what they see, and render it in
its present condition.

Carter was to be rescued from the temporary demise of the Archaeo-
logical Survey by being transferred to work with Edouard Naville at Deir
el Bahri. It must have seemed the best solution for the employment of
one whose appointment as the Fund’s artist at ^100 a year from
November 1893 had been agreed by the Committee as recently as April.
Carter believed that Newberry had been the principal agent in his
secondment. From Deir el-Bahri in December he wrote to Newberry: 19

I dare say you will think it rude of me for not writing to you before
and also for not thanking you for jour kindness in recommending me
for this work which I am very please [r/r] with. I think M. Naville is a
splendid man and Iris method of working could not be better for this
kind of job ....

The copying here is not so cool as in the tombs, but the work is
more elaborate and I hope to be able to make some fine plates; at
present I am drawing them to scale, as you know your own self one
had to apply different methods according to the differculties [sic[ that
occur in copying the paintings.

In this letter Carter alludes to two matters on which he clearly felt the
special need to comment. The first was Naville himself, and his compe-
tence for the task of excavating the temple at Deir el-Bahri; the second
was his chosen method of copying.

The decision of the Committee to allow Naville to work at Deir el-
Bahri had been severely and openly criticized by Flinders Petrie. His
disdain for Naville ’s aims and methods in excavation were very well
founded. Naville was not an excavator in Petrie’s sense, but a site-clearer
whose main aim was to recover large inscribed monuments. Petrie
proposed that if the Committee was determined to allow Naville to work
in the Theban area, he should be directed to Karnak, where in the great
temple of Amon-Re there would be plenty of scope for him to wield his
broad brush without serious loss of important archaeological evidence.
A late decision by the Committee to follow Petrie’s recommendation did

18 Percy Brown was an artist recruited by Carter for work primarily at Deir el-Bahri; see
p. 68 below

19 G.I. Newberry Corr. 49/2.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

not reach Naville before he had succeeded in obtaining his permit from
de Morgan (at about the same time as Newberry was failing to get his
permit for the tombs at El Amarna), and he began operations at Deir el-
Bahri in February 1893. The controversy did not subside at the end of
the first season, and Naville returned to Deir el-Bahri in December to
continue his massive earthshifting activities which were greatly helped by
the loan, from the Luxor operations of the Antiquities Service, of a
tramway with open trucks (a Decauville railway) for the transport of
spoil from the temple site to the dumps well away to the east. After the
second season he could claim that his workmen had succeeded in
shifting ‘nearly 60,000 cubic metres of rubbish and stones’. 20 So when
Howard Carter joined the Deir el-Bahri camp in December, the row over
Naville and his methods was still at a serious level. Carter may have prop-
erly had a view on the matter, and he might surely have felt a kind of alle-
giance to Petrie after his season with him in early 1892; but now the
young man, still only 19, rightly sensed that he should express himself
tactfully, and show himself as being wholeheartedly behind Naville. In
any case he was not at Deir el-Bahri to excavate, but to copy the
wonderful reliefs which were rapidly being brought to light by Naville ’s
energetic methods.

On the question of Carter’s procedures for copying at Deir el-Bahri,
there are several points of doubt. From the outset he was in charge of
the very responsible epigraphic operation; 21 it was clearly crucial to
establish at the start the best way to set about what promised to be the
largest and most important copying venture by the Egypt Exploration
Fund. Let it be said in advance that the methods chosen were highly
successful, and that the drawn record of the temple decorations,
contained on 174 plates in six large volumes, represents the finest
epigraphic achievement of the Fund. The most clearly stated description
of Carter’s methods to have been published must, however, be ques-
tioned. Dr R. A. Caminos, himself the finest of the Egypt Exploration
Society’s epigraphers of the late twentieth century, comments with admi-
ration on the Deir el-Bahri record : 22 ‘I know of few epigraphic drawings
which so effectively convey the feeling of the sculptured wall. That is

20 E.E.F. Arch. Rep. 1893-1894, p. 1.

21 Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions; an epigrapher or epigraphist is one who copies
and studies inscriptions.

22 In R. A. Caminos and H. G. Fischer, Ancient "Egyptian Epigraphy and Palaeography (New
York, 1976), p. 7.

HOWARD CARTER

epigraphy at it’s best.’ Of Carter’s procedures he reports, from informa-
tion received from Sir Alan Gardiner and Mrs. Nina M. Davies (in her
time the outstanding copyist of painted tomb scenes), as follows:

He made tracings of the surfaces to be recorded, transferred them to
heavy drawing paper on a smaller scale by means of a grid of reducing
squares, and finally pencilled or, more often crayoned in his reduc-
tions, performing all these operations in situ with constant reference
to the originals; meanwhile Naville would meticulously check and
collate Carter’s results with the monument itself at every state of the
process.

The finished drawings, from which the published plates were repro-
duced, are still in existence, and a close inspection has revealed no trace
of any grid. Carter did use guide lines and one or two other ‘mechanical
devices’ to assist him in laying out his sheets, but the bulk of the drawing
was done freehand. They are all finished in soft pencil at twice the scale
of the published plates; each is signed by the artist responsible, and it is
quite remarkable how homogeneous the results are no matter which
artist was involved. They all carry what may be described as Howard
Carter’s stylistic stamp.

Carter’s dislike of tracing was clearly expressed from the time of his
first employment by Newberry at Beni Hasan and El-Bersha, and he
makes it clear in the letter he wrote to Newberry quoted above that he
was abandoning the accepted method: ‘I am drawing them to scale, as
you know your own self one has to apply different methods according to
the differculties that occur in copying the paintings.’ His excuse for
change may seem a little lame, but he surely did not want to suggest that
his abandonment of the Newberry method was due to anything other
than a difference of material. Before he had joined Naville at Deir el-
Bahri he had written to him from London with a rather different tech-
nique in mind : 2 ’ ‘For low relief, dry squeezing with pencil outline I found
most pleasing and acurate \sic \ , and as I heard from Mr. John Newberry
that the greater part of the work is such, I strongly advise that method.
Would you kindly favour me with your opinion on the subject.’ In the
event he never apparently used the dry squeezing method. He probably
found it too ponderous a technique for the huge walls which needed to
be copied. It is also likely that the considerable areas of deliberate

23 Geneva MS, 2542, 38, letter dated 23 October 1893.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

damage on the walls responded poorly to squeezing - a technique which
involved the application of a suitably heavy, but flexible, paper to the wall
with gentle beating with a brush, or with finger pressure, to produce an
impression of what was carved on the wall. Contemporary confirmation
that Carter’s method involved essentially the copying by eye and hand of
what was on the wall is contained in the report given to the Annual
General Meeting of the Egypt Exploration Fund by the Honorary Secre-
tary on 26 October 1 894: ‘Mr. Howard Carter’s pencil drawings are exact
copies of the scenes portrayed on the walls of the temple, and are being
reproduced in half the original size direct from the pencil drawings.’ 24
Throughout his career Carter exercised his artistic talents in the
drawing of scenes and inscriptions for epigraphic purposes, in the
production of painted facsimiles of coloured reliefs and scenes, in topo-
graphical and imaginative water-colours, and in the reproduction of
objects found in the course of excavation. For most of these activities the
proper use of the artist’s eye and hand was essential; but for the first, the
strictly epigraphic process, it had been generally accepted that accuracy
was the prime aim, with art entering in only marginally, if at all. For Carter
this approach was fatally destructive for Egyptian art. On many occasions
during his life he expressed himself strongly on the subject, and one of
his longest statements, especially relevant to his work at Deir el-Bahri, is
contained in his late autobiographical essay. Here he emphasizes the need
to copy for publication in such a way that both the artistic quality and the
scale of the original are best conveyed in the final production. In copying
‘the same infinite pains and competency to meet the task should be
employed as in the case of any other archaeological problem. The more
so in this case, for Egyptian art depends so much upon the graceful and
understanding line.’ After many more reflections on the nature of art and
the importance of drawing, he explains his own technique: 23

My excuse for this somewhat lengthy excursus is simply because I felt,
that if I attempted to copy the scenes sculptured upon the walls of
Hat.shep.sut’s Mortuary Temple by the prevailing system of tracing,
the essential charm of those beautiful reliefs would have vanished in
my copy. And as Professor Naville had given me a free hand in the
matter, I felt bounden to study the problem, to find a means to attain
the best results. I tried many expedients; but they resolved in this

24 E.E.F. Report for 1893—4, p. 13.

25 Griffith Institute version (Carter Notebook, 15), p. 71.

HOWARD CARTER

simple solution: To first observe the fundamental laws of Egyptian
Art; how it eliminates the unessentials; to copy that art accurately and
intelligently with honest work, a free hand, a good pencil, and suitable
paper.

There remains, however, the question of the kind of magic that infected
Carter and his assistants in the copying, in a remarkably coherent way, of
many hundreds of square metres of carved wall. What Carter would
surely have claimed is that the results are successful not because of the
skills of the artists, but because of their humility in devoting their skills to
the revelation of the linear art of the originals . 26

What then was this great monument that generated such passion, not
only on the artistic side, but also through the bitter archaeological
wrangle between Petrie and Naville ? 27 It was a temple which, from its
extraordinarily impressive situation, and its remarkably individual archi-
tecture, has become one of the principal goals of visitors to Egypt. It lies
at the head of a wide valley extending west-north-westwards from the
cultivated plain on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor. It is constructed
on an axis which, if extended across the river, coincides almost precisely
with that of the great Karnak Temple. The valley ends in craggy lime-
stone cliffs of impressive height, and of a colour ranging from a hard
white to a pinkish yellow depending on the time of day and the quality of
the light. It is a noble situation, and one that develops its own particular
atmosphere of blanketing heat even in the warm, but elsewhere ideal,
days of winter. Here Hatshepsut, the great usurping queen of the Eight-
eenth Dynasty in the first half of the fifteenth century BC had her
mortuary temple constructed. It was to be built on the northern side of,
and partly over, an earlier temple of similar character designed to an
unusual plan for King Nebhepetre Mentuhotpe II of the Eleventh
Dynasty, five hundred years earlier. Senenmut, Hatshepsut’s high
steward, and for a time the most important official of her court, is cred-
ited with the design. Instead of a temple of courts and pillared halls, with
a complex of rooms surrounding a shrine containing the sacred image of
the principal deity of the holy place, it took the form of a series of

26 Carter’s methods are more fully discussed in T. G. H. James, ‘The very best artist’ in
the memorial volume to Cyril Aldred: Elizabeth Goring and others (eds.). Chief of Seers
(London, 1997). pp. 164ff.

27 The dispute is well set out by W. V. Davies in T. G. H. James, ed., Excavating in Egypt:
The Egypt Exploration Society 1882—1982 (London, 1982), pp. 51ff; also M. S. Drower,
Flinders Petrie. A Fife in Archaeology (London, 1985), pp. 283 ff.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

terraced courts with colonnades, rising from the valley to the cliffs,
connected by steep ramps, the whole decorated with scenes carved in the
finest low relief. There were important side-chapels dedicated to the
deities Hathor and Anubis; the principal sanctuary to Amon-Re, here
considered as the natural father of the Queen, centred on the west side
of the upper court, led back to the very cliffs. What cannot be appreci-
ated by the casual visitor is that by a remarkable feat of ancient engi-
neering the chamber prepared for the queen’s burial in a tomb in the
Valley of the Kings, on the other side of the rocky barrier of the Deir el
Bahri cliffs, lies almost beneath the temple sanctuary. There was in this
way an intimate, but secret, connection between the queen’s sepulchre
and her mortuary temple . 28

In its completion the great temple must have presented a wonderful
sight: from a distance, a striking piling-up of terraces and colonnades
against the dramatic rocky backdrop of the cliffs; at closer inspection, for
those allowed within the sacred precinct, a marvel of fine carving with
scenes of unusual interest — an expedition to the tropical land of Punt,
the transport of huge granite obelisks from Aswan to Karnak, the divine
conception and birth of the Queen, much more in detail and grandeur.
There were groves of incense trees, avenues of sphinxes, unusual many-
faceted pillars in the colonnades (not unlike some of much earlier date
which Howard Carter would remember from the tombs at Beni Hasan).
It was called Djeser-djeseru, ‘Holy of holies’, and it remained a holy site
long after the temple of Hatshepsut lost its primary sanctity and signifi-
cance. Important cults were nurtured there throughout the remaining
fifteen centuries of Pharaonic and Ptolemaic Egypt. In Christian times a
monastery was built on the upper court, the local focus for a huge popu-
lation of anchorites, drawn to a kind of collective isolation at Thebes.
The monastery gave the name to the place in modern times; it was El-
Deir el-Bahri, ‘the Monastery of the North’. Substantial mud-brick
remains of the monastery buildings, including a tower, survived up to the
time of Naville’s excavation, and it was evident that much stonework
from the Eighteenth dynasty temple was incorporated in the Christian
structures.

When Edouard Naville began his operations at Deir el-Bahri the site
was unprepossessing, giving the appearance more of a long abandoned
industrial area than of an important temple. Debris from occupations

28 On the ownership of tomb no. 20 in the Valley of the Kings, usually attributed to

Queen Hatshepsut, see C. N. Reeves, The Valley of the Kings (London, 1990), pp. 13ff.

HOWARD CARTER

extending over more than two millennia, overburdened by rock and shale
fallen from the crumbling cliffs, buried the Hatshepsut temple in places
to a depth of many metres. Test diggings, mosdy of a random nature,
carried out in the preceding fifty years, had revealed parts of the original
temple, but had left the site archaeologically so disturbed that Naville saw
his task firstly as one of clearance rather than excavation, even in his
simple sense of that activity. In the second place, a full record was to be
made of the temple decorations, and the plan of the whole complex
determined. The reliefs, as already mentioned, were of the highest
interest, and executed in the fine, precise, sensitive low relief carving
characteristic of royal monuments of the middle reigns of the Eighteenth
Dynasty. From earlier probings it also seemed likely that substantial
remains of colour had survived on the walls. So much could be estab-
lished from the parts that had been examined in the past, especially by
Auguste Mariette, the founder of the Egyptian Antiquities Service. The
clearance of the site to reveal the temple was seen by Naville as a task for
two or three seasons, even with the help of the Decauville railway.
Copying could start as soon as parts of the temple were sufficiently
cleared to allow access to the decorated walls. So Howard Carter joined
Naville in December 1893, at the beginning of the second season.

From the moment he arrived at Deir el-Bahri, Carter found himself
involved in much more than simple copying. Apart from his occasional
use as a supervisor of large gangs of workmen engaged in moving the
huge quantities of debris and decayed occupational remains, he was
employed as the photographer of the team. It is not known how or
where he acquired his skill as a photographer, but the results he achieved
were of very high quality; the surviving archive contains many excellent
photographs recording the work in progress, and also many details of the
relief decorations in the temple. 20 He was also put, necessarily, to the
sorting out of rescued fragments which, in so far as possible, had to be
placed back into their original positions in the walls. In some places this
reconstruction was essential before copying could be undertaken. Carter
was no longer quite the ‘boy’ he had been at Beni Hasan, but he was still
only 19, and clearly the one best suited to do the odd jobs about the dig.
But copying was his first duty and he set about it, establishing his modus
operandi and general strategy with the free hand allowed him by Naville.

29 A selection of Carter’s photographs illustrates Naville ’s introductory volume, The
Temple of Deir el Bahari (London, 1 894).

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

Writing to Edward Maunde Thompson, a Vice-President of the Fund
who often acted as Chairman of the Committee, on 11 January 1894,
Naville stated: 30

I believe it is important that another artist should join us as soon as
possible. I have been able to judge what Mr. Carter can do. He
certainly has much talent, his drawings are very good, and in this
respect I do not think we could have a better artist. His copies when
reproduced in colour or in black will make very fine plates. But he is
rather slow, and at the rate he is going at the end of the season we
should not have plates enough for the first number of the work on
Deir el Bahari. Therefore I did not hesitate to ask for a second artist,
especially as you had told me that the Committee was quite willing to
send out another man if necessary.

A strong recommendation to send reinforcements had been made by D.
G. Hogardr, the classical archaeologist, who had himself been sent to
Deir el-Bahri, ostensibly to assist Naville, but also to provide the Fund
with an independent judgement in the dispute between Naville and
Petrie. 31 Carter suggested that his older brother Vernet should come out
and help him, and in late February 1 894 the second Carter artist arrived.
Vernet, whose name is occasionally spelled Verney, was ten years older
than Howard, had enjoyed a similar training from Samuel Carter, and was
employed professionally as an artist. He acquired some reputation as an
engraver, and was successful in having his work exhibited in the Royal
Academy Summer Exhibition during the 1890s. It is probable that
Vernet had already been introduced in a marginal way to the copying of
reliefs, or at least to the inking-in of copies. In writing to Miss Paterson,
the Fund’s secretary, in June 1893, mosdy about work at El-Bersha,
Carter adds as a postscript a request that £20 of his salary should be sent
to his brother, 32 ‘as the bad weather of the last winter having destroyed
his plates has put him so behind hand’. The reference is obscure, but as
the date seems certain (the letter existing in original and in copy), it does
suggest that Vernet was working on El-Bersha plates in London in 1893.

30 E.E.S. Archives, XVII 16.

31 For Hogarth’s report, generally favourable to Naville, see E.E.F. Report for 1893—4,
pp. 18-22, 23-4.

32 E.E.S. Archives, XI 1 d 2.

HOWARD CARTER

Soon after he had started work, Vernet’s talents were summed up by
Naville in very favourable terms: ’’ ‘Mr. Verney Carter began work at
once. He draws as well as his brother, and certainly for hieroglyphical
drawing in colour as well as in black they are first rate artists and I believe
the plates which will be made from their copies will give a very good idea
of the beauty of the work.’ Inspection of the drawings completed by
Vernet shows that Howard Carter had very distinctly instructed him in
how the drawing should be carried out. The work of the two brothers is
practically indistinguishable, and their reproduced plates in The Temple of
Deir el Tabari I, which appeared in 1895, create a wonderfully uniform
effect. The prospect of achieving a record of the whole temple by these
two artists must have seemed very promising. In order to push the work
forward Naville arranged for the Carters to remain at Deir el-Bahri for a
month or so after the excavation had been closed. Digging would be
brought to an end in late March by the start of the Moslem month of
Ramadan, when, because of the daily fasting, the men could not be
expected to work as normal. Naville was cynical about his men’s observ-
ance of the fast at that time: ‘all our workmen eat and drink as in any
other month of the year; but they amuse themselves at night [when relief
from fasting is properly allowed] and in the morning they are not good
for work.’ In the event, Naville finished excavating on 15 March, and the
Carters were still at Deir el-Bahri at the end of April. Howard Carter
wrote to Naville, excusing himself and his brother for not having
finished earlier: 54 ‘owing to the heat being so intense lately; and my
brother failing in health; but we expect to finish in about a fortnight or 3
weeks time.’ Mid-day temperatures, at Deir el-Bahri especially, at this
time of the year may easily reach 115 degrees F (46 degrees C). In such
heat pencils become soft and drawing almost impossible because of
damp hands and forearms. There were other hazards:

I must tell you that I am more than glad that I copied the N.W
Chamber of offerings first, for no sooner had you left, there was a
great fall of stones from the hill above, covering the floor of the
chamber from one end to the other.

The end of the drawing season also brought the end of Vernet Carter’s
involvement in the work. A brief mention in the Egypt Exploration

33 Naville to Maunde Thompson, 2 March 1894, E.E.F. Archives, XVI 1, 17.

34 Geneva MS. 2542, 40, 41.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

Fund’s Annual Report for 1894—5 (p. 14) states that in November 1894
Naville was accompanied to Deir el-Bahri by ‘the artists, Mr. Howard
Carter and Mr. Percy Brown. The latter artist was appointed in place of
Mr. Verney Carter, who could not stand the climate of Egypt’. It was a
sad end to a co-operation which had already achieved so much. It is also
extraordinary to observe that the sickly Howard, a weakling from child-
hood, should now outstrip in stamina his 30-year-old brother Vernet.
Still, their joint success, evident to all in the excellence of their completed
drawings, established the style and quality for the rest of the temple.
When it came to publication, it was decided to reproduce the drawings
with the least possible technical intervention. A collotype process was
used by the printers, Gilbert and Rivington Ltd, of St John’s House,
Clerkenwell, London E.C. As Stuart Pool commented: 3 ’’ ‘By this process
much of the delicacy that is unavoidably lost when the originals are inked
over, is retained, and all details will be faithfully preserved.’

Naville ’s clearance of the temple was completed during the season
1895-6, apart from some small areas where additional ‘tidying up’ had to
be done. Already the site looked very differently from when he began.
The substantial remains of the Coptic monastery were gone, and, with
the mounds of other debris, removed to dumps in nearby quarries and
depressions the plan of the temple was now clear, in general terms at
least, if not in all respects. There remained, however, much more to do in
the way of making safe unstable areas of construction, of rebuilding
parts to incorporate additional fragments, of roofing some colonnades
and rooms in shrines to protect fine reliefs and well preserved painting.
In particular, there was much drawing still to be done — two or three
seasons according to Naville’s estimate. He and the Committee of the
Egypt Exploration Fund could rightly be pleased with what had been
achieved. The campaign had not, however, assuaged the curiosity of
other Egyptological investigators; nor had it extracted everything of
interest from the site. Subsequent, very careful, excavations by the Egyp-
tian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, between
1911 and 1931, extended the limits of the earlier campaign, discovered
much — including material of great importance concealed inadvertently
by Naville’s dumps - and revised the architectural history of the temple. 36
Further reconstruction of parts of the temple was carried out by Emile

35 E.E.F. Report for 1893—4, p. 13.

36 The annual reports in the museum’s Bulletin by H. E. Winlock are collected in his
Excavations at Deir el Bahri 1 91 1—1 931 (New York, 1942).

HOWARD CARTER

Baraize for the Antiquities Service from 1910 onwards, and an extensive
campaign of excavation and reconstruction was started by the Polish
Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology in I960. 3 This last campaign
concentrated attention in the area of the Upper Court and under the
cliffs, and in its course a whole new temple, built in the reign of King
Tuthmosis III, Hatshepsut’s nephew and successor, was discovered.
There is no reason to believe that all the secrets of Deir el Bahri have
now been revealed; but it remains to the credit of Naville and the Fund
that the importance of the temple was first properly recognized and that
its beauty was first revealed.

The copying of the temple decorations, mostly executed and wholly
supervised by Howard Carter, continued with many interruptions, and
with changes in assistants, until 1899 when he left the service of the
Fund. His task was then done, and his greatest epigraphic achievement
contained in the six volumes of The Temple of Deir el Tabari. He had been
very fortunate in his co-workers. His brother Vernet was succeeded as
his assistant by Percy Brown, with whom Carter seems to have got on
particularly well. Their partnership, which included some mopping-up at
Beni Hasan and El-Bersha, lasted until the summer of 1896 when Brown
received the offer of a permanent post in India/’ 8 Carter informed
Naville of this serious loss in early September 1896, but wasted no time
in finding a replacement. Writing again on 23 September he reports: 39 ‘I
have got Mr. C. Sillem to take his place, a man whom I have known a
long time, and trust he will be successful.’ He was indeed successful and
quickly took to the Carter method of working. His first task was to draw
the scenes in the important Hathor Chapel, planned for volume IV of
the great publication: ‘He is progressing well,’ says Carter on 26
November. The ease with which replacement artists could be found
resulted from Carter’s association through his brothers William and
Vernet, and his sister Amy, with the artistic community of London, and
particularly Chelsea which in the late nineteenth century formed the
heart and soul of that community. While he was in England during the
summer months he used as his base Stamford House, 428 Fulham Road,
in the periphery of Chelsea, where Vernet and Amy lived; together they
surely passed many hours in the company of young and aspiring artists.

37 In general see D. Arnold in l^exikon der A-gyptologie, I, col. 1017f.

38 He subsequently became a distinguished authority on the architecture of the subconti-
nent.

39 Geneva MS. 2542, 47, 48.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

To find someone with real talent who might welcome the opportunity to
spend three or four winter months in Egypt, and be paid for it, could not
have been difficult.

In addition to the regular assistants, Carter was also helped during two
seasons by Miss Rosalind Paget, a very competent artist, especially in
water-colour, who had been one of Petrie’s earliest students at University
College London. For the seasons of 1895-6 and 1896-7 she was able to
spend several weeks at Deir el-Bahri before joining an expedition at
Elkab, further south from Luxor, where Eighteenth-dynasty tombs were
the subject of study and recording by J. J. Tylor and Somers Clarke. She
was not used for the principal copying task at Deir el-Bahri, but to make
coloured facsimiles of unusual, well painted heiroglyphs and other
details. Her accommodation in an all-male camp, when Naville and his
wife were not in residence in the cramped quarters of the expedition
house, caused superficial problems before her arrival. The proprieties of
the time were not to be ignored. Happily no serious difficulties devel-
oped and gentlemanly standards apparently prevailed. Naville, however,
was also worried in advance about the austere quality of life in his
camp: 411 ‘she will have to rough it. She will have to accept many discom-
forts which frightened even gentlemen. Our house is simple as possible.
We do not indulge in any luxury .... the beds are hard and the furniture
elementary.’ Still, things were not actively bleak as with Petrie, with
whom Miss Paget had first experienced Egypt. ‘If Miss Paget begins with
Petrie I daresay our way of living will compare favourably with her first
experience of an explorer’s life,’ Austerity in ‘way of living’ is very rela-
tive. Something of the ameliorations possible at Deir el-Bahri is
contained in a letter of Carter to Naville written on 28 January 1898: 41
Wou need not trouble about bringing stores as we have a good supply for
the present, plenty of Medoc, Graves, and whisky.’ First things first, it
would seem.

Although the making of the graphic record of Hatshepsut’s temple
was completed in 1899, the final volume of die publication did not
appear until 1908. The scientific monitoring of the artists’ work by
Edouard Naville was intermittent and slow; some help was given by
Percy Newberry. Proper checking had to be carried out in front of the
walls that had been copied; it was painstaking and tedious work, but not
to be scrimped. The checker’s task was much helped by the developed

40 See W. V. Davies in T. G. FI. James, ed., Excavating in Egypt, p. 60.

41 Geneva MS. 2542, 62.

HOWARD CARTER

skills of the copyists whose intensive immersion in the style of decora-
tion, and in the subtleties of the hieroglyphic signs, rendered their
involvement in the final result no simple mechanical process of mindless
copying by uninformed eye. Naville recorded his appreciation of the
work of Carter and Brown on the exceedingly difficult Punt reliefs in a
most generous manner: 42

Most of the inscriptions copied had been erased [in antiquity], and were
difficult to read, but owing to the familiarity which tire artists had
acquired with hieroglyphs at Deir el Bahari, and to their skill in recog-
nizing a sign from a few broken lines or a small coloured fragment, it
has been possible not only to correct the former publications of the
Punt Expedition by Mariette and Duemichen, 4 ’ but here and there to
add materially to what has been deciphered previously by those scholars.
These texts have now been subjected to several revisions, made at
different hours during the day, and often at night by candle-light.

It was one thing, however, to obtain beautiful, accurate drawings; it was
another thing to secure their good reproduction in the volumes. The
printers of the publication, Gilbert and Rivington, were to a large extent
in the hands of the man who prepared the plates, and probably also
supervised their printing. He was W Griggs, otherwise unknown, but yet
responsible for the success or failure of the completed work. He was
neither prompt nor easy to deal with, and Carter spent much time during
his summers at home visiting Griggs, correcting plates, incorporating
suggestions received from Naville in Switzerland, urging, encouraging and
even brow-beating. It has always been said that collotype operators (very
few of whom still exist) were more artists than printers, and consequently
perhaps a little temperamental. Carter’s letters to Naville over the years are
peppered with Griggs references and complaints: 44 ‘Griggs has not
finished the plates for the 1 st vol. yet, and I have not seen any proofs of
the coloured plates, and as you know he had 15 drawings ready for him
last November and the rest in January; I cannot conceive how they can
take 8 months and not completed yet’ (30 September 1895); ‘I found that

42 E.E.F. Arch. Rep. 1895-1 896, p. 5.

43 Johannes Duemichen was Professor of Egyptology in Strassburg 1872—94. His copies
of the Punt reliefs and texts are in Historische Inschriften altagyptischer Denkmaler, II
(Leipzig, 1869).

44 Geneva NIS. 2542, 68 (30 Sept., 1895), 46 (11 Aug., 1896), 48 (24 Sept., 1896).

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

Griggs had not started on the plates or done anything beyond the silver
prints’ (11 August 1896); ‘I am sorry to say that Griggs has disappointed
me and will not have all the proofs done before I leave’ (24 September
1896). Naville also was not at all satisfied with the published results. In a
progress report to the Egypt Exploration Fund after the appearance of
the third volume in the spring of 1899, he complains bitterly: 45

I am obliged again to direct the attention of the Committee to the very
bad way in which the plates are printed. Vol. Ill is certainly worse than
Vol. II. Anyone looking through those plates will be struck by the fact
that they are very unequal: a plate so faint that the signs are hardly
discernible is followed by another which is much too dark .... I
cannot help feeling that it is a great pity that such drawings as those of
Mr. Carter which as regards accuracy and artistic value are the very best
hieroglyphical drawings ever made, should be so badly reproduced.

It was indeed a great shame that only an indifferent result was being
achieved. Eventually the printers were changed, and Vol. VI was
produced by William Clowes and Sons Ltd of Duke Street and Stanford
Street, London, S.E., and Great Windmill Street, London, W

If Carter grumbled about W Griggs and the plates while he was in
England, he grumbled while he was in Egypt - at least in letters to
Naville — about not being able to get on with the drawing. He had
become, in effect, Naville’s deputy in almost all matters and he was very
distincdy in charge of the many constructional and small engineering
operations which continued season after season. His mentor and point
of reference in such matters was Somers Clarke, a British architect who
in 1897 became Surveyor of the Fabric of St Paul’s Cathedral. He partici-
pated in numerous archaeological enterprises in Egypt, and was an
outspoken advocate for the conservation of monuments in the country.
Each year he made visits to Deir el-Bahri to prepare annual strategies for
action, to instruct Howard Carter in technicalities, and to leave him to
get on with the work. His advice and practical experience were crucial,
and Carter took full advantage of his chances to widen his own experi-
ence. So when he complained to Naville, 46 ‘the Committee have again
stopped my drawing — to put up and build the fallen blocks - I think it is
a pity,’ it may be thought that he was perhaps a little half-hearted in his

45 E.E.S. Archives, XI a 3.

46 Geneva MS. 2542, 56.

HOWARD CARTER

grumbling. There is much evidence to suggest that he relished the new
challenges and enjoyed solving the practical problems which occurred
during the work on the temple. He was very effective, as again Naville
testified: 47

It is certainly quite remarkable how well that difficult work of
rebuilding is done by Mr. Carter. Mr. Somers Clarke was at Deir al
Bahari only for a few days during which he was not well, so that he
could do no more than give general directions; the whole of the exca-
vation was carried out by Mr. Carter. The most difficult part was the
pulling down and raising up again of the supporting walls on the upper
terrace .... Mr. Carter has done the work admirably. He has a very
quick eye for finding the places where the stones belong to; besides as
he has a thorough command of Arabic, he can direct and superintend
the men, or rather teach them what they are to do.

Carter’s extended role at Deir el-Bahri had, satisfactorily if surprisingly,
been recognized for some time by the Committee of the Fund. On 12
July 1897 it had been resolved that he should superintend the reconstruc-
tion work in the temple during the next season, and that his salary should
be increased from £100 to £125. Two weeks later, on 27 July, this salary
was further increased to £275 a year ‘including all expenses’. 48 There had
clearly been some additional thinking — or even grumbling by Carter
himself - about the extent and variety of the duties he was being asked to
perform.

Howard Carter was now 23, and he had developed substantially in
competence and in character. Years of exposure to responsibility in a
place much frequented by rich and important visitors had brought matu-
rity and possibly a kind of comfortable security which he would not
often find again in his archaeological career. At the start of his time at
Deir el-Bahri he was young and socially unreliable, at least in the eyes of
John Newberry, who then was part of Naville’s team. Hogarth had
arrived and was recommending a second artist: ‘I hope’, wrote Newberry
to his brother Percy, 49 ‘Hogarth’s influence will somewhat improve
Carter’s manners; they continue to be much as they were; he doesn’t hesi-
tate to pick his last [sic] hollow tooth with a match stalk during dinner,

47 E.E.S. Archives, XI a 5.

48 E.E.F. Committee minutes.

49 G.I. Newberry Corr. 33/31.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

bite bread that is so hard you can hardly cut it with a chopper, and help
himself to whisky in an absent minded fashion, emptying half the bottle
into his tumbler, then laugh and say he wasn’t thinking and pour it back
again into the bottle, spilling a lot.’ But his virtues were also recognized
by John Newberry: ‘However he works well, and has taken a lot of inter-
esting photographs, which are very successful, and on the whole we get
on all right.’ This letter was written on 31 December, and it seems not
unlikely that Carter’s display of gaucherie occurred over Christmas and
was therefore perhaps a little more excusable. Yet paradoxically Carter
was at the same time an acceptable guest at Didlington Hall. The year
before, on 10 November, Lady Amherst had written to Newberry from
Didlington: 011 ‘I sent Howard Carter to stay at Swaffham till Sunday as he
could not have done much with the proofs in the house. He has arranged
some of the things [probably from the Amarna excavation] but could not
do your book.’ The Amhersts were again pleased to see him at Deir el-
Bahri when the family made an extended tour of Egypt by dahabiya in
1894—5. They were first reminded of him when they visited El- Amarna
on 10 January 1895. In her journal Alicia Amherst records: 01 ‘We saw the
place where Howard Carter found our statues just outside the sun
temple.’ On the 20th they arrived for a one-day stay at Luxor, and Carter
came to see them in die afternoon. Then after a visit to Aswan (and a
steamer-trip to Wadi Haifa) the party returned to Luxor on 22 February,
and stayed until 1 March. They paid at least two visits to Deir el-Bahri
during this time, and Howard Carter visited them on their dnhabija daily,
sleeping on board every night.

Among the influential people Carter met while he was at Deir el-Bahri
was the wealthy American Theodore Davis, with whom he would have
much to do in the way of excavation in a few years’ time. Early in March
1899 Davis spent nine days at Luxor with his party, and the visit is
recorded in some detail by Emma Andrews, his companion and relative.
Through visiting Newberry they came to meet Carter. In her diary 02 Mrs
Andrews states that they took tea with him on the afternoon before they
left Luxor and that she ‘chose the subjects of two sketches he is to make
for me — Queen Aahmes and Queen Sensenet, Mother of Thothmes I’

50 G.I. Newberry Corr. 2/16.

51 Two of four tiny volumes in the possession of Mrs Stanley Chattey, to whom I am
indebted for permission to quote. The two final volumes are missing.

52 I quote from the transcript of the diary in the Department of Egyptian Art, in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, by kind permission of Dr Dorothea Arnold. The type-
script is numbered separately by year. The present reference is to 1899, p. 29.

HOWARD CARTER

And she adds: ‘The Buxtons, who are on the Nepthys [a dahabiya\, and
whom we met at Aswan, taking tea with us one afternoon, told me that
Mrs. Buxton’s (Gurney) grandfather’s gamekeeper was this young
Carter’s father, and that he had great talent (the father) in drawing
animals.’ It is likely that Mrs Andrews (or the Buxtons) confused Carter’s
father with his grandfather, who could more suitably be described as a
gamekeeper, although his employer was Robert Hamond; but she was
certainly correct in reporting that his father could draw animals. In her
commissioning two sketches there is much of interest. Carter had
prepared many coloured reproductions of painted scenes and details in
the temple for the printed volumes, and among them were the two
subjects chosen by Mrs Andrews. 5 ’ He often showed his paintings to
visitors, but this seems to be the first recorded occasion on which he
agreed to make additional copies for sale. It is not unlikely, however, that
the possibility of earning a little extra money had occurred to him earlier.
It is also known that as early as 1899 he was producing topographical
watercolours for sale. 34 His success with Mrs Andrews may even have
come as a surprise, for it prompted him to send a short note to
Newberry, 53 ‘A million thanks,’ which Newberry annotated with the
information that it was written after he had introduced Carter to Theo-
dore Davis, when the latter had bought two Deir el-Bahri paintings. For
the next twenty years at least painting was to be a constant solace to
Howard Carter; he would on occasion have much time at his disposal for
this restful and contemplative activity. His paintings would be of
different kinds according to mood, necessity and commission: land-
scapes, careful copies of painted tomb-scenes, imaginative work incorpo-
rating elements of antiquity; he would draw and paint from nature, much
in the Theban area and often in the Cairo Zoo, especially birds. The
results would be for sale, or given as gifts to friends and patrons; he
would paint to order. It is therefore surprising how very few of his paint-
ings are now known to exist. Most of them surely would have been
carried away from Egypt unframed, rolled up, or placed flat in the
bottom of a cabin trunk; subsequently, in all probability, valued more as
charming souvenirs of an Egyptian visit than as fine examples of an
artist’s work. Many will have remained undiscovered, put away in drawers

53 Queen Aahmes (Ahmose) = Naville, Deir el Bahari, III, pi. lxvii; Queen Sensenb = Deir
el Bahari, I, pi. xiii. Mrs Andrews gives the second queen’s name incorrectly.

54 A watercolour of Deir el-Bahri in the possession of Anne Pemberton, is dated 1899.

55 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/15.

CONSOLIDATION AND DIVERSIFICATION

or portfolios; but easily identified - he always dated and signed his work
with a bold, flourishing hand.

At a Committee meeting of the Egypt Exploration Fund on 7
November 1899, ‘telegrams were read from Mr. Howard Carter, stating
that he had been offered the appointment of Inspector of Antiquities to
the Egyptian Government, and asking if the Committee would permit
him to resign his employment under the Fund from next January 1. Mr.
Carter was congratulated on his new appointment, and the permission
asked for was given, it being understood that he would make arrange-
ments for the completion of the work at Deir el-Bahari.’ Thus, at the age
of 25 Carter had achieved, quite unexpectedly as it would seem, recogni-
tion of his varied abilities, and the status of an Egyptologist with a
permanent appointment. The matter had not come as a complete
surprise, but the decision to appoint two Chief Inspectors had followed
the reappointment of Gaston Maspero as Director-General of the Antiq-
uities Service in the summer of 1899. 36 It was to be a significant decision
not only for Howard Carter, but also for the progress of field-work in
Egypt generally for the next fifteen years.

56 Maspero took over from Victor Loret, who had himself succeeded Jacques de Morgan
in 1897.

CHIEF INSPECTOR

The Antiquities Service set up in Egypt by Auguste Mariette in 1858 was
the first national organization of its kind in any country, but it had never
been provided with funds enough for the establishment of an adequate
staff to fulfil its many functions. The Director-General was from the
outset responsible for the care and excavation of monuments throughout
Egypt, and for the development of the museum in Cairo. Increasingly,
towards the end of the nineteenth century, he was also responsible for
the granting of permissions to excavate to foreign organizations and
individuals, and for the division and disposition of the antiquities found
in such excavations. The duties were formidable, and were in practice
almost impossible to carry out satisfactorily, especially in a country in
which general standards of administrative efficiency and bureaucratic
integrity were as yet not seen to be ideal. Gaston Maspero, the
outstanding French Egyptologist of his generation, had succeeded Mari-
ette as Director-General in 1881, and in the five years up to 1886 had
begun to build on the modest foundations of the Service which he had
inherited from Mariette. In 1886 he returned to Paris to carry out his
duties as professor at the College de France, and to develop with
immense energy his academic reputation. In the interim the Service
suffered severely from a weak and changing directorate. Eugene Grebaut
(1886-92), Jacques de Morgan (1892-7), and Victor Loret (1897—9) were
all Frenchmen, for it had become the accepted convention that the posi-
tion of Director-General should always be held by a compatriot of Mari-
ette: none was adequate for a task that needed an Olympian. Grebaut
and Loret were temperamentally unsuited for the position, and found it
difficult to achieve workable relations either with their Egyptian
colleagues or with the Europeans who increasingly came to Egypt to
excavate, expecting special and sympathetic treatment from the

CHIEF INSPECTOR

European head of the Service. De Morgan was essentially a Near-
Eastern archaeologist, and his brief years in Egypt were devoted by incli-
nation to active field-work, to the neglect of administration. Throughout
this period continuity of a kind was provided only by Emile Brugsch, a
German Egyptologist, employed as assistant conservator in the Cairo
Museum, effectively the deputy of the Director-General, a position he
occupied until his retirement in 1914. He held the fort in Cairo whenever
the Director-General was absent, and on his shoulders fell the responsi-
bility of keeping the administrative clock ticking.

It was not ticking very strongly when Maspero returned to Cairo in
November 1899. In a letter to Naville, an old friend and trusted
colleague, written early in January 1900, he complains of the disorder in
the administration: 1

it seems that for a long time it has been the principle not to deal with
matters a little delicate, but to put them on one side in a corner, doubt-
less in the hope that they will resolve themselves on their own. Also
you cannot imagine to what an examination of papers I have to attend
to about which nobody in the department ( che% nous) or in the minis-
tries any longer understand anything.

Maspero’s reappointment was greeted with much pleasure, especially in
British Egyptological circles. Petrie, who suspected the purposes of all
Frenchmen, suspected Maspero less than the rest. For the Egypt Explo-
ration Fund Francis LI. Griffith voiced the common view eloquently: 2

Upon the efficient and single-minded administration of archaeology in
Egypt hang great issues for science; workers of all nationalities, there-
fore, will consider it a happy event that the reins of government of the
Department of Antiquities were last year handed ... to the ablest of
contemporary Egyptologists, Professor Maspero . . . [He] thus enters
upon his second administration in some respects under singularly
favourable auspices, and it is hoped that his new accession to power will
mark the beginning of a new epoch in the official Egyptology of Egypt.

When Maspero took up the challenge again in the autumn of 1899, the
staff of his department, not including local antiquities guards, amounted

1 Geneva MS. 2329, 205, dated 5 January 1900. The original is in French.

2 E.E.F. Report 1899—1900, pp. 8f

HOWARD CARTER

to just twenty-four people. 3 It was certainly time for improvement and
for expansion. In October it was agreed that two European Chief
Inspectors should be appointed, with the responsibilities on the ground
for the preservation and conservation of monuments in their areas, for
the conducting of excavations on behalf of the Service, and for the
supervision in a general sense of excavations carried out by others. One
of the Chief Inspectors would be based in Cairo with a territory covering
the Delta and the Nile Valley south to Qus; the other from Luxor would
supervise the Valley from Qus south to the Sudanese frontier. These
were huge districts to oversee, and it was recognized from the first that
changes might have to be made in the light of the experiences of the first
incumbents in their initial years. They were to receive salaries of £E400
(four hundred Egyptian pounds), rising over four years to ;/~E600, and
subsequently to ^800, a very reasonable emolument for the time, and a
considerable improvement as far as Howard Carter was concerned. He
would also receive accommodation in a house at Luxor at the expense of
the department. No similar arrangement was made for the Cairo-based
Inspector, a difference in circumstance which would lead to grave dissat-
isfaction on Carter’s part when he was transferred north in 1904, and
even more so when his base became Tanta in 1905. 4

It is more than likely that Carter was surprised to be offered one of the
two new Inspectorships. He was surely proud and delighted to receive
such official recognition of his merits, although no letters of the time to
his English friends have apparently survived to testify to his reaction.
There can, however, be little doubt that he owed his appointment to
Edouard Naville who had over six years observed Carter’s activity at Deir
el-Bahri and been able to delegate more and more of the supervisory
work to him. Naville had seen Carter develop from a young, inexperi-
enced artist with a little excavating training into a reliable deputy, quick to
learn new field techniques, an accomplished manager of Egyptian
workmen, a competent speaker of Arabic, and skilled controller of archi-
tectural and other works. His accomplishments were essentially practical,
and almost precisely those which were required for the new appoint-
ment. Naville was also a good friend of Maspero, and his intervention in
the choice of Carter may be deduced from a letter written to him by
Carter on 14 November 1 899:’’

3 Rapports sur la marche du Service des A.ntiquites de 1899 a 1910 (Cairo, 1912), p. xv.

4 On the setting up of the inspectorate, its duties and salaries, ibid., pp. xxff.

5 Geneva MS. 2542, 74.

CHIEF INSPECTOR

You will be glad to hear that the Inspectorship has been offered me and
I have accepted it, and shall start Jan 1st - the date that the Committee
has let me off the work here . . . When in Cairo a few days back I saw
Monsieur Maspero whom I found an exceedingly nice man. I believe
will be a pleasure to work with him. I cannot do otherwise than thank
you for your kindness — as he said he new \sic\ me well through you.

Although the appointment of two Chief Inspectors was generally
welcomed, especially by British Egyptologists — for the two preferred
candidates were both British - there was some surprise voiced privately
by those who found the choice of Carter to be unexpected, to say the
least. This surprise is clearly expressed in a letter written to Percy
Newberry by J. E. Quibell, the other successful candidate, whose own
qualifications for the position were on paper substantially stronger than
those of Carter: 32 years old, a graduate of Oxford University, with
considerable excavating experience with Petrie and Somers Clarke, a man
of scholarly inclinations who had already collaborated in a number of
excavation memoirs, and was at the time of his appointment employed in
the Cairo Museum preparing a catalogue of its holdings of Early-dynastic
objects. In what he says to Newberry it may be possible to recognize the
opinions of others in the archaeological community: 6

Two English inspectorships have been made and offered to Carter and
me. I have accepted of course; of Carter I do not yet know, but I think
he will. Although I am glad to have Carter as a colleague and shall get
on with him first rate, I must say I should have much preferred to see you
in the job. I had assumed indeed that it was certain you would have it -
and I am very sorry you haven’t.

Writing a month later, again to Newberry, Quibell gives a few first
impressions: 7

I am starting very soon for the Fayum; as yet I have only had a short
trip to Nag Hamadi, Keneh and Abydos. Did I tell you how the land is
divided? Carter has Wady Haifa to Kamoula and Kus. I have Kus-
Nagada northwards. We shall both have an enormous amount to do -
but I think it will be rather nice. We shall not get very learned over it
though — almost always away from books.

6 G.I. Newberry Corr. 38/20, dated 9 November 1899.

7 G.I. Newberry Corr. between 38/20 and 38/21, dated 21 December 1899.

HOWARD CARTER

One may well speculate on whether Carter ever considered his
appointment unusual, or even thought that as a candidate he was supe-
rior to his old friend and colleague Percy Newberry, who had been pardy
responsible for his first coming to Egypt. It is also not known if
Newberry had himself entertained hopes of obtaining one of the two
positions. There are no letters from Carter written during the winter of
1899-1900 among the Newberry correspondence in Oxford; but it
would be wrong to deduce from this gap in a fairly steady, if not
frequent, epistolary exchange between the two that a coolness existed at
that time. Certainly, in the subsequent October Carter could write in a
very friendly way to Newberry, looking forward to the latter’s coming to
Luxor and offering to put him up. I * * * * * * 8 Undoubtedly the offer of an inspec-
torship would have seriously interested Newberry, although he might not
have in the end considered its acceptance a practical option. He did not
tolerate readily the summer heat of Egypt, and the expected duties of
Chief Inspector included spending some summers without home leave.
Still, the kudos of obtaining such an appointment could scarcely have
been ignored and Newberry may well have reflected wryly on Carter’s
extraordinary promotion. It was only eight years since Carter had come
out with him to Beni Hasan as a ‘tracer’.

In a consideration of Newberry’s scholarly interests and known
temperament, there can be little doubt that he would not have made a
good Chief Inspector of Antiquities. Even so, in choosing Carter,
Maspero - if it were specifically his choice, as seems to have been the case
— was taking a chance. There was much that remained untested about
Carter. Maspero took an early opportunity to travel to Upper Egypt, and
he spent some days in Luxor on general inspection, which included a
good look at his new man. His letter to Naville, quoted at the start of this
chapter, contains a measured assessment in which enthusiasm is
tempered with at least one perceptive comment on Carter as a man: 9

I have been at Luxor since 26 December and I have installed Carter.

He is going to shore up the wall of the Ramesseum, which threatens

collapse, two or three rooms of Qurna, and several other places which

are in urgent need of repair. I find him very active, a very good young

8 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/17, dated 31 October 1900.

9 Geneva Ms. 2529, 207, the original in French. In the translation, names of places and

ancient kings have been converted from French convention of the time to English

presentday forms.

CHIEF INSPECTOR

man, a little obstinate, but I believe that things will go well when he is
persuaded of the impossibility of securing all the reforms in one go:
the only misfortune is that he doesn’t understand French, but he is
learning it. We have already prepared the tombs of Tuthmosis III and
Amenophis II for visitors; we are waiting for Garstin’s approval to put
up iron gates.

Carter’s obstinacy (Maspero uses the word entete) was both a strength
and a weakness; it would throughout his career sustain him at times of
difficult decision; it would also threaten the success of his efforts, and
even bring him close to losing all he had striven for. Maspero would
himself meet the problem in a few years’ time over an incident at Saqqara
when Carter stood admirably by principle, but foolishly in almost every
other respect. Later Carter would almost lose control over the great
Tutankhamun discovery by failing to understand the necessity of
bending in the face of a storm. Yet from the beginning, Maspero and
Carter developed a very sympathetic relationship, which must indicate in
particular die former’s appreciation of those talents which characterized
Carter’s work: an excellent artist, a good organizer, an accomplished
engineer, a careful excavator, a firm (if stubborn) representative of the
interests of the Antiquities Service; he understood and got on well with
Egyptians, especially the villagers who lived in and around the archaeo-
logical sites, whose co-operation was so often needed in the daily work
of the Chief Inspector. Carter was not an academic Egyptologist, and
could not have joined Maspero in discussing the kinds of Egyptological
problems — philological, literary, historical — which were his principal
interests. His practical abilities more than compensated for his lack of
formal training, and Maspero was pleased to have found someone who
could efficiently prosecute the policies of conservation and protection of
the monuments which he was instituting.

Carter, for his part, gready appreciated the interest and support shown
him by Maspero, and in spite of the vicissitudes of his career, when
Maspero was obliged in his official capacity to go sometimes against the
advice or intentions of his young colleague, he could in later life write
warmly of his former chief : 111

10 From a late sketch ‘Tomb of the Horse’; the Griffith Institute version in Carter Note-
book 16, 92.

HOWARD CARTER

A more distinguished savant, a more charming gentleman, or kinder
master could not be found. Maspero’s single-hearted devotion to
Egyptology and his encouragement and consideration for others
occupied in its research - irrespective of nationality — were but one
manifestation of his noble and generous nature, which critical
colleagues were apt to look upon as weakness.

In the same context he writes briefly about the vagueness of his commis-
sion as Chief Inspector, and reports that he was at first required to draw
up reports on the Theban Necropolis and its monuments with the inten-
tion of organizing a system for their future protection. A move in this
direction is mentioned in Maspero’s letter to Naville in which he talks of
preparing two of the royal tombs for visitors, and of plans to install iron
gates. The idea of fitting protective gates on tombs was new, even though
it was an obvious first step to preserve these ancient monuments from
the destructive actions of visitors, especially antiquities hunters, and
from the illegal occupation of tomb-chapels by Egyptian fellahin who
found the Theban tombs in particular very convenient ready-made
dwellings. It seems inconceivable that less than one hundred years ago
access to most tombs in the Theban region was unimpeded by anything
more than a local guard, who was only on duty from time to time. Even
then substantial numbers of visitors trod the archaeological trails to the
Valley of the Kings and over the hills of Qurna which were honey-
combed with finely decorated tombs.

It was an urgent and very rewarding work, and Howard Carter, with
strong encouragement from Maspero, worked steadily, although rather
slowly, on the task while he was at Thebes. Money, unfortunately, was
short, and Carter was obliged to do what he could when he had funds.
Sometimes he might persuade a visitor to contribute something towards
costs; such was the donation of £10 (£E9.750) given by a Mrs Goff -
described as ‘the charming Mrs. Goff’ by Emma Andrews in her diary
entry for 6 April 1902 - which Carter used to clean out and provide a
gate for the tomb of King Sethos II in the Valley of the Kings. 11 Several
accounts suggest that Howard Carter had very considerable social charm
which he was able to use to the advantage of his work. As early as 1895
he had encouraged Mr Frederick Horniman, MP for Falmouth and

11 Carter reports the gift in A.S.A.E. 4 (1903), p. 44. A copy of his letter to Mrs Goff
acknowledging the gift, dated 21 March 1902, is in the library of the Department of
Egyptian Antiquities, the British Museum.

CHIEF INSPECTOR

Penryn, to donate £100 towards the work on the Deir el-Bahri temple. In
reporting the matter to the Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund,
Naville emphasized particularly ‘that it is to Carter that the Society is
indebted for that gift’. 12 His greatest success, however, was to concen-
trate the interests of Robert Mond, the British industrialist and chemist,
in the excavation and preservation of the private tombs at Thebes, a task
to which he had been introduced by Percy Newberry in 1902. Tombs
excavated by Mond were properly conserved and provided with doors. A
few years later Mond more actively supported this particular aspect of
work at Thebes, and it was energetically pursued on his behalf by Arthur
Weigall, Chief Inspector from 1906, by Alan H. Gardiner, and by Ernest
Mackay. In the beginning, many of the doors put up by Carter were of
wood, 13 but they proved to be of little use against the determined and
wholly unscrupulous activities of those robbers who found a ready
market for fragments of tomb-decoration through the antiquities dealers
of Luxor and Cairo.

Iron grilles did not fare much better if a truly resolute effort at entry
were to be made, as one serious incident proved almost two years after
Howard Carter had taken up his appointment. One of the tombs first
fitted with iron doors was that of King Amenophis II of the Eighteenth
Dynasty (c. 1427—1401 BC). This tomb had only been rediscovered in
1898 in excavations by Victor Loret, Maspero’s predecessor as Director-
General. It contained, to the great surprise of the discoverer, in addition
to the mummy of Amenophis II in its quartzite sarcophagus, a group of
royal and non-royal mummies and unwrapped bodies, and some funerary
equipment. 14 The tomb had, in fact, been converted some time in the late
Twentieth Dynasty into a cache for the reburial of the plundered remains
of a number of very important kings of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth and
Twentieth Dynasties. After the clearance of the tomb, the bodies were left
in their places, and that of Amenophis II himself lay undisturbed in his
sarcophagus. When Maspero came to Luxor at the start of his new regime
he decided in January 1900 to remove to the Cairo Museum with Carter’s
help all the royal mummies, with the exception of that of Amenophis II.

12 Letter of Naville to Grueber, E.E.S. Archive XI b 2. Frederick John Horniman (1 835 —
1 906) made a fortune as a merchant and he collected widely, founding the Horniman
Museum at Forest Hill, South London, in 1897.

13 The history of protection is outlined in A. H. Gardiner and A. E. P. Weigall, Topograph-
ical Catalogue of the Private Tombs of Thebes (London, 1913), pp. 7ff. On Carter’s wooden
doors, see Rapports sur la Marche . . . , p. 58.

14 See C. N. Reeves, The Valley of the Kings, (London, 1990), pp. 192ff.

HOWARD CARTER

At the time Theodore Davis with his travelling party were in Luxor in his
dahabiya, and Maspero suggested that Carter should take the Americans
to view the newly ordered tomb of Amenothes — as he called the king.
The visit took place on 17 January, a fine hot day, as Mrs Andrews
reported in her diary. The descent into the tomb was arduous and
dangerous. Those who know the tomb today will recall the steep descents
from level to level, the wide deep well-shaft, and the oppressive heat. The
present-day luxuries of proper stairs and electric light were not yet
installed in early 1900, and Mrs Andrews writes vividly of the difficulties
of the visit: gentlemen invited to take off their coats, candles handed
around, steep so-called stairs of broken stones with ropes to hold on to,
beams across the shaft, another impossible stair with a roof so low they
were obliged to bend. But they were struck by the ‘chaste’ decoration on
the walls, and by the king’s mummy in the sarcophagus - the body
untouched, ‘probably protected Mr. Carter told us by the curse
pronounced in the band of hieroglyphs around the top of the sarcoph-
agus upon any marauding hands.’ There is no such curse on the sarcoph-
agus, and it is piquant to find Carter invoking such here when he would
later in life be plagued constantly by the mythical curse of Tutankhamun.

Carter and the Antiquities Service did not, however, have to rely on
the supposed curse to protect the tomb and its remaining contents. The
iron gate had been installed — noted by Mrs Andrews - and guards were
on duty day and night in the Valley of the Kings. Nevertheless, rumour,
always a potent factor in and around areas where antiquities are being
found, had it that there remained in the tomb bodies covered with jewels
in gold and silver. It is impossible to persuade Egyptian villagers who
know anything at all about the work of excavators, that the principal aim
of all archaeologists is not to find gold and jewels. Surely it would be
madness, they would think, to engage in such dirty, uncomfortable activ-
ities were there not something special to be found. Of course, the search
might not always be successful, but any discovery about which a fuss
might be made must certainly incorporate an element of ‘Treasure’. So
goes the thinking. And unfortunately, gold is found sufficiently
frequently for the idea of the treasure-hunt to become part of the myth
of archaeology. Unfortunately also, there have been many archaeologists
who have measured their success by the precious objects found in their
explorations. It is hard wholly to blame them if they receive greater
public recognition for the finding of a few precious objects than of, for
example, a rich archive of documents. At least the publicity may help in

CHIEF INSPECTOR

securing more support for the work; and the discovered objects may be
beautiful, and fine examples of ancient craftsmanship. At Luxor, espe-
cially in the early years of the twentieth century, there has always been
considerable archaeological activity, and discoveries, interesting and
exciting, were and are not uncommon. There was always, therefore, a
stimulus for the inhabitants of the villages on the West Bank of the Nile
opposite Luxor town to pursue their traditional activity of tomb-robbing.
It had flourished in antiquity, and had been revived in modern times
when the search for antiquities became part of the opening-up of Egypt
in the wake of the Napoleonic invasion.

The responsibilities of antiquities inspectors naturally include the close
surveillance of threatened areas and, when thefts can be identified, the
tracking down of stolen objects and the bringing to justice of the thieves.
Howard Carter was reckoned to be assiduous and successful in this
respect. The chatty Mrs Andrews said of him - reporting no doubt the
views of Theodore Davis and his friends - that he ‘has proved himself a
most efficient officer — is absolutely fearless — carries no arms — and
rides about quite unattended at all hours of the night.’ 1 ’’ He found his
information about possible thefts as much by examining the purchases
of wealthy tourists, like Theodore Davis, as from talking informally to
the villagers of Qurna and the antiquities dealers of Luxor. The whole
business was circular, a process of supply and demand. In January 1900
Carter was shown a number of objects purchased by Davis in Luxor, and
he expressed his suspicions that ‘some rich and important tomb was
being robbed and that he was on the scent of it’. 16 It is today surprising
to contemplate the ambivalence with which Carter, and others in similar
positions, were obliged to act in response to antiquity thieving. A Puritan
approach to archaeology and its finds had not yet developed and it was
possible, perhaps even necessary, to sit on the fence, on one side
condoning the acquisition of antiquities by private persons which must
have come ‘hot’ from illicit excavations, and on the other side attempting
to thwart the efforts of the tomb robbers. Somewhere in the middle of
this unsatisfactory traffic was to be found the antiquities dealer, untrou-
bled by any qualms of morality; he bought what was offered, often in
ignorance of the origin of the finds, and sold for the best price to Euro-
pean and American visitors.

15 Diary entry for 17 January 1900, transcript, p. 74.

16 Diary entry for 20 January 1900, p. 89.

HOWARD CARTER

In the autumn of 1901 Carter successfully trapped two bands of illicit
diggers at Thebes and brought them to trial. To him, and to every well
intentioned person, the outcome was highly unsatisfactory: the culprits
were found guilty and fined either 5 or 15 piastres — utterly insignificant
sums. As Maspero reported, in such cases ‘the robbers are less discour-
aged than encouraged to continue in their practices’. 17 This fiasco was
shortly followed by a well planned robbery of the tomb of King Ameno-
phis II. The report of the theft, published by Carter in the newly estab-
lished journal of the Antiquities Service in the following year, is both
fascinating and scandalous. 17 In parts it reads not unlike the official
reports of ancient tomb robbery at Thebes prepared in the late Twentieth
Dynasty. The theft took place apparendy on the evening of 24
November. Carter was away from home on a tour of inspection, and
heard the news next day while he was at Kom Ombo on his way to
Aswan. His investigations, conducted with representatives of the local
civil authorities and the police, were inconclusive. It seems that the Valley
guards were overpowered, the tomb entered, the royal mummy cut open,
another body smashed, and a model boat stolen. The cutting-open of the
royal mummy had, according to Carter, been carried out skilfully and
clearly by someone who knew where to look for precious objects. None
were found. Carter had strong suspicions that the theft was the work of
the Abd er-Rasul family, the most accomplished robbers in Qurna, and
that the guards had lied about the events. A tell-tale footprint, photo-
graphed by Carter, corresponded with one belonging to Mohammed Abd
er-Rasul. In due course three Abd er-Rasul brothers were arrested, but
the stolen boat was not recovered. Carter was very dissatisfied with the
behaviour of the guards: ‘I cannot help thinking that the theft was known
to them some time before the 24th of November, and that they have
made up the tale for some reasons, perhaps to cover their negligence.
There are many evidences and witnesses to show that the inspector and
the guards were holiday-making in Luxor without leave, during my
absence.’ Everything about this theft was inconclusive and frustrating.
Mohammed Abd er-Rasul alone was eventually brought to trial, but was
not convicted; even the evidence of the footprint was rejected, Carter
believed because the photograph produced in court was of a small size
and the court was unwilling (or unable) to see the correspondence

17 Rapports seer la marche . . . , p. 37.

18 ‘Report on the robbery of the tomb of Amenothes II, Biban el Moluk’, in 3

(1902), pp. 1 1 5ff.

CHIEF INSPECTOR

between it and the foot of the accused. In a late sketch which includes an
account of the theft, Carter describes the extraordinary sequel. 19 His
attempts to find the stolen boat came to nothing until, one day much
later, he spotted it in a case in the Cairo Museum. It had, it seems, been
purchased from an antiquities dealer by one of the Museum’s officials,
using state funds. Subsequently it emerged that it had been sold by
Mohammed Abd er-Rasul to a dealer in Giza.

Although Howard Carter could in no way be held responsible for what
had happened in the tomb of Amenophis II, a certain odium stuck to
him in the opinion of those who did not approve of his appointment, or
of the way in which he exercised his responsibilities. He might try to be
all things to all men, but priorities of duty could only prevent him from
being equally well disposed to all. For example, in the supervision of the
excavations of others at Thebes and elsewhere in his fief, the division of
finds between the excavator and the Cairo Museum was a particularly
sensitive procedure. The Chief Inspector could favour those whom he
liked to a degree that might incur hostile criticism from elsewhere. It was
a kind of tightrope walk in which a false step might result in the loss of
friends, or in the charge of improper behaviour. A letter to Lady
Amherst written from Thebes on 19 December 1900 is particularly
revealing in the matter of the dividing of finds: 20

Last week I allowed some excavations to be made in the tombs of the
Kings by a native, resulting in the finding of the tomb of Sennefer,
Mayor of Thebes during Amenhotep II; there are many antiquities in
it mosdy inscribed vases of good work. As my agreement was with the
native that either half value or half antiquities shall be the finder’s
property and there are many duplicates, I am advising Newberry to
purchase one for you. Would willingly do so myself but feel that I ought
not to under one’s present circumstances.

Later in the same letter he continues:

Newberry has been most fortunate in finding 3 gold and copper
dishes with Hathor cows in them - they are very beautiful and unique
- Shall do all I can to let him carry one away for I think two are ample
for the Museum.

19 G.I. Carter Notebook 17, p. 189.

20 In the Amherst Letters in tire possession of Dr Bob Brier.

HOWARD CARTER

None of Carter’s actions or intentions mentioned in this letter is tainted
with impropriety in the context of normal Antiquities Service practice of
the times. Straightforward 50:50 division was the common arrangement,
except that specially important or unique pieces could always be claimed
for the Cairo Museum. Objects from the so-called Sen-nefer tomb
divided to the excavator were in due course acquired for the Amherst
collection, and others went to Theodore Davis; some of these latter are
now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Others, by different
routes, ended up in museums elsewhere — the Kestner Museum in
Hanover and the British Museum. 21 One of the cow dishes was divided
to Newberry, whose work had been financed jointly by Theodore Davis
and Mrs Andrews; it is now also in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
having come by way of the Davis collection. 22

Among those who observed Carter’s activities with displeasure was J.
H. Insinger, a Dutch dealer in antiquities, who lived for most of the year
in Luxor, and was well known to European and American visitors. In
June 1903 he wrote a virulent letter to the editor of the French -language
daily paper ~Le Phare d’Alexandrie , attacking Carter and linking him with E.
A. W Budge, the Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the
British Museum, whose methods of acquiring objects for the Museum
were often thought to be less than scrupulous. In publishing the letter
(written in French) in the issue of 3 June, the editor of Le Phare
comments favourably on the standing of his correspondent, and
deplores the facts raised in the letter as being seriously damaging to ‘la
patrimoine historique de l’Egypte’, and requiring public airing: 2 ’

A lack of supervision, amounting to complicity, allowing the clandes-
tine dispatch to Europe of antiquities taken surreptitiously from
poorly guarded excavations, sanctioning the plundering of the royal
tombs, defrauding Egypt, to the advantage of ‘the most favoured

21 On the problems of the identification of the owners of the tomb, thought at first by
Carter to be Sen-nefer, see C. N. Reeves, Valley of the Kings, pp. 24ff. For the present
location of objects from the tomb, ibid., p. 33, notes 121—4.

22 See W. C. Hayes, Scepter of Egypt, II (New York, 1959), pp. 205£, with fig. 121. For a full
study including details of Newberry’s agreement with Theodore Davis, see H. E.
Winlock, ‘An Egyptian flower bowl’, in Met. Mus. Studies V (1936), pp. 147f. Mrs
Andrews’s participation is made clear in letters of 24 August and 18 September to
Newberry, G.I. Newberry Corr. 3/2 and 3/3.

23 I am grateful to my friend the late Professor Magdi Wahba for tracking down a copy of
this rare publication and for obtaining a photocopy of the relevant page.

CHIEF INSPECTOR

nation’, of ancestral documents, those whose rightful ownership can

the least be disputed.

Insinger begins by complaining of the number of English officials
being appointed, and of the possibility that some are not fitted for their
posts, e.g. Monsieur X . . . , i.e. Howard Carter, ‘formerly a junior
draughtsman [employed] at £5 a month. He worked, at Deir el-Bahri for
the Egypt Exploration Fund. He has been appointed Inspectortin-Chief
to the Antiquities Service at £43 a month.’ How could such an insignifi-
cant person be so employed? ‘Not a year passes without the recording of
some disappearance of antiquities or a serious accident, such as the
violation of the tomb of Amenophis II, the collapse of the tomb of
Sethos 1 , or some blunder.’ He then raises the matter of the despoiling
of a late Eleventh or early Twelfth Dynasty tomb about which M. X . . .
seemed to know less than anyone. Inscriptions from this tomb have
been purchased in Luxor, and fraudulently exported by Monsieur Y . . . ,
i.e. Budge, for the British Museum. Insinger hints that the blocks from
the tomb may have been exported in the diplomatic bag, and should
perhaps be returned in the same way. And as for M. X . . . , he ought to
be transferred to another division of the public service; he is quite
unfitted to look after antiquities: ‘Every time somebody of importance
visits Upper Egypt, one wonders with fear what calamity will happen to
the things entrusted to M. X . . ,’s care. You could say that he is pursued
by an evil destiny.’

An energetic and very well argued riposte was offered by the Egyptian
Gazette two days later. 24 In an editorial entitled ‘ “Antica” Stealing’, the
writer addresses ‘our excellent confrere, Le Phare d’Alexandrie ’ , taking him
to task in particular for his unjustified comments based on Insinger’s
letter. The writer does not set out to defend Dr Budge, and he has some
very pertinent comments to make on the antiquities trade, which is
actively exploited by ‘antiquities authorities’ of many countries. ‘No one
nation is more favoured than another in this respect, though perhaps
England and the British Museum may be more actively represented.’ He
points out that there is a Decree regulating the export of antiquities, but
it is difficult to enforce because upwards of 40,000 Egyptians earn a
living ‘from the disposal of Egypt’s ancient records’. He concludes his
leader thus: ‘The only means of dealing with Dr. Budge is to arouse

24 Files of this paper are to be found in the British Library Newspaper Library at Colin-

dale, North London. The leading article is on p. 2 of the issue of Friday 5 June 1903.

HOWARD CARTER

scientific public opinion in England against him and his methods.’ 23 It
might just be mentioned here that the specific monument about which
Insinger accuses Budge, and by implication Carter, the fine stela ofTjetji,
had been available on the antiquities market in Luxor for some time
before Budge purchased it for the British Museum, and could therefore
have been acquired for the Cairo Museum by purchase or even by confis-
cation. 26 This would surely have been known to Insinger, of whom the
leader-writer of the Egyptian Gazette says: ‘In view of Mr. Insinger’s pecu-
liar position in Luxor we can also understand that an active and energetic
Inspector like Mr. Carter is a considerable thorn in the flesh to him, and
that such accusations as are brought against the latter, are prompted by a
whole-souled desire to see the last of him.’

On Insinger’s charges that Carter was in some way responsible for
robberies in tombs and the collapse of the tomb of Sethos I (referred to
here as Seti I), the Gazette editorial comments very sensibly:

No single case of robbery has taken place at Thebes, Mr. Carter’s
headquarters, during his presence there. It is impossible to expect a
single inspector to look after a stretch of 500 miles of country,
containing innumerable tombs and temples, in anything more than a
superficial manner. We do not understand why Mr. Insinger should
look upon the falling in of the roof of the tomb of Seti I as a reflection
upon Mr. Carter’s capacity. Perhaps Mr. Insinger is also aware that the
roof of the Temple of Edfou has fallen in and also the enclosure walls
of the temple of Kom Ombo.

But the hardest hit is against the charge that Carter had acted in
complicity with Budge in the so-called theft of the Tjetji stela. The accu-
sation had not been made by Insinger himself, but by the editor of Le
Phare d’Alexandrie on the strength of Insinger’s letter. We trust’, the
editorial thunders, ‘that Lord Cromer will take this matter up and call
upon our contemporary for a written apology for such an unwarranted
aspersion.’

25 Budge comments on the affair in his By Nile and Tigris, II (London, 1920), p. 366, and
suggests that Carter’s later dismissal from the Antiquities Service was due partly to the
energetic nature of his exercise of his duties. Carter was not dismissed; see the next
chapter.

26 BM 614 (Tjetji’s stela) was first seen and the texts copied by G. C. Pier, an American
Egyptologist, who published an account of it with help from J. H. Breasted in N.J.S.T.
21 (1905), pp. 159ff.

CHIEF INSPECTOR

It must be presumed that nothing followed, for there is no mention of
the written apology or of any other reaction in later issues of the Egyptian
Gazette. Whether the affair damaged Carter’s reputation, it is hard to
determine. One year later moves were made to transfer Carter to the
northern inspectorate, and to bring Quibell to Luxor; but such a change
had been envisaged from the time when the inspectorates were first set
up. In his report on the progress of the Antiquities Service for 1904,
Maspero noted that the change of inspectorates should have taken place
at the beginning of 1903, but had been delayed for two seasons at
Carter’s request so that he could complete certain pieces of work he had
in hand at Thebes and elsewhere. 27 Maspero had agreed; then Carter had
decided to exercise his option to move in June 1904. Maspero would
surely not have allowed him to stay on at Luxor after the scandalous
charges had been made if he had felt that there was any truth in them.
Equally he would not have tried so hard to prevent Carter from resigning
in late 1905, had he not valued his services so highly. 28

There was, as the editorial in the Egyptian Gazette noted, a lot of work
for an inspector with 500 miles of country to cover. Many of the duties
were routine — the chore of simple but regular inspection, for example —
others involved the practical care and repair of monuments. These activi-
ties together constituted what might be called the bread-and-butter jobs.
There were also other tasks, much more to Carter’s liking, which could be
characterized as the icing on the cake — exploration and excavation. All in
all, however, he relished his new position, as a letter written to his mother
in September 1 900 shows. 29 It is one of a very few surviving letters to her
illustrated with small snap-shots set within the text. Unexpectedly he
addresses his mother as ‘mater’, a usage (with ‘pater’ for ‘father’) which
was not uncommonly used by those who had received an education with
a classical element in it, probably in a public school. It was used, for
example, by Percy and John Newberry to refer to their mother, and not
only in letters addressed to her. Americans also employed the usage, at
least in academic families like that of James Henry Breasted, the great
Chicago Egyptologist. In Carter’s case it might be put down, perhaps
unfairly, as an affectation. His own education had been sketchy, and
throughout his life he made up for the deficiencies of schooling and of
social training by aping the behaviour of those with whom he worked

27 Rapports sur la marche . . . , p. 1 18.

28 Ibid., p. 164; and Chapter 5 below.

29 Letter dated 12 September 1900, in the possession of Jonathan Carter.

HOWARD CARTER

closely, and whom he regarded as being suitable models to follow Here in
this letter he starts with an account of what he has recendy been doing:

Yesterday I returned from an Inspection up country, at a place called
Edfou, with the great pleasure of finding a letter from Mater dated
Sept 2nd and also a much needed V 2 doz. prs of socks that caused
great joy - to show my pleasure I work hard and developed photos in
the evening, and hence the prints. Tomorrow I am off again North, to
Esneh and Baliana on Inspection and look into a case between subin-
spector and guards, either of which having taken palm-oil for settle-
ment of some Antiquity land.

After domestic details of his house (Castle Carter) and garden and some
animal news, he ends:

It is only a short time since I wrote my last, so have hardly anything to
say. My flying visits to unexpected places make a few days seem weeks
ago. It is a curious life — a letter may come in the morning and I go in
quite an opposite way, or perhaps must stay where I am - For that is
an Inspector’s life.

Among the places where Carter carried out essential and important
work of conservation and reparation were the Ptolemaic-Roman temples
of Kom Ombo and Edfu, to the south of Luxor; at the latter a few huge
roofing blocks of the first pillared hall had fallen to the ground and
needed to be replaced safely, for the temple was much visited by tourists.
In Nubia he was much involved in shoring up the foundations of the
temple of Philae, recently partially submerged by the building of the
Aswan Dam. Here the work was largely paid for and carried out by
central government, but Carter was required to monitor progress and to
note the affects of the water which now flooded the temple for most of
the year. At Abu Simbel he took steps to minimize damage to the great
Ramesses temple where one of the huge colossal statues was regularly
clambered over by visitors for the taking of holiday snaps. He also organ-
ized the installation of electric light in this temple with the practical and
financial help of Messrs Thomas Cook, whose steamers regularly brought
groups of eager tourists to view the distant monuments of Nubia.

Most of his work, however, was concentrated in the Theban area, not
including the great temples of Karnak and Luxor on the east bank of the

CHIEF INSPECTOR

Nile, which were the special responsibility of other representatives of the
Antiquities Service.’ 11 Much had to be done at the Ramesseum, the
mortuary temple of Ramesses II - an enclosure wall to be built and
considerable areas of the temple compound to be cleared of debris accu-
mulated over more than 3000 years. The fitting of iron gates to many of
the tombs in the Valley of die Kings has already been mentioned; and he
also greatly improved the experience of visiting six of the tombs by
installing electric light. He was particularly proud of this achievement, for
noticeable disfigurement of the paintings and reliefs in these tombs was
caused by the soot deposited by candles, torches and magnesium flares
used by visitors. Thebes was always archaeologically a hive of activity
which needed to be watched closely or superficially, depending on who
was in charge of the operations. Robert Mond with Percy Newberry
could be trusted to excavate private tombs in the area known as Sheikh
Abd el-Qurna. Ernesto Schiaparelli, head of the Italian Archaeological
Mission, could equally be supervised lightly in his work in the Valley of
the Queens. There remarkable monuments like the wonderfully deco-
rated tomb of Nefertari, principal queen of Ramesses II, was found
during Carter’s inspectorate. Closer surveillance had to be made,
however, on the work of less experienced excavators, like Messrs
Chinouda Macarios and Boutros Andraos who were allowed a permit to
clear the tomb thought to be that of Sen-nefer.

Casual finds made in unofficial diggings were particularly difficult to
track down and control, especially if small, precious, objects were
involved. The licensed and unlicensed work of the sebbakhin was a
constant problem. The sebbakhin , small farmers and farm-labourers,
retrieved decayed mudbrick and top soil ( sebakh ) from ancient sites, of
which town areas were the most productive; the material was spread as
fertilizer on the cultivated fields, and its retrieval was in a sense a
community right and in some places intensive and very difficult to super-
vise. Inevitably ancient objects were turned up and rarely would they be
handed over to the antiquities authorities, unless the discovery became
known before the find was dispersed. Carter was to have a notable
success in this tricky area in 1 905 when he was already operating in the
Delta. But success was rare, and Maspero’s reports every year comment
on the problem. The practice still continues, with devastating effect on

30 Carter’s own published reports on his work during the years 1900—4 are in

1—4 (1900—3). More general reports by Maspero are in Rapports sur la marche . . . , pp. lOf.

(1900), 3 Iff. (1901), 58ff. (1902), 92ff. (1903), 119ff. (1904).

HOWARD CARTER

ancient town mounds, especially in the more remote parts of the country,
little visited by tourists and difficult to oversee on a regular basis. Casual
digging for other purposes might also reveal things of interest, as when
Jusef Ahmed el-Neggar (as Carter names him) came across a group of
fine sculptures and other large monuments too heavy to spirit away,
while enlarging his house in Luxor. On that occasion the house-owner
was paid £E5 as compensation for the retrieval of the pieces and for the
rehabilitation of his house.

Few excavations took place in other parts of Upper Egypt during
Carter’s years of duty there, but one, unusually conceived, had a special
call on his interest and care. A concession was granted to Lady William
Cecil, Mary the eldest daughter of Lord Amherst, who would succeed as
Baroness Amherst on her father’s death in 1909. She had acquired a love
of Egyptian things from her parents, and on a visit to Egypt in 1901,
encouraged by the presence of Howard Carter in Upper Egypt, she
started excavations at Aswan, at the place called Qubbet el-Hawa. Here a
series of very important tombs of the Old and Middle Kingdoms had
been found by Sir Francis Grenfell in 1885 while he was Commander-in-
Chief of the Egyptian Army. Lady William Cecil records in her journal
how the enterprise began. ’* The Cecil party settled at Aswan for a long
winter stay, and one day made an excursion to the west bank of the river.
Billy (the son) with another member of the party walked to the top of
Qubbet el-Hawa to see the view. Here they found that

all the top of the hill was full of what looked like tombs. He was quite
excited about it so next day I went up to look too. And the day after
Howard Carter, having arrived at Aswan, we made him come up too.
He said it certainly was an ancient cemetery and he knew nothing
about it, it is not on any map or guide. He said we might if we cared,
have a ‘permit’ to excavate these tombs and we were delighted with
the idea, and he (H. Carter) arranged to send us an inspector and 4
men from Luxor, and we got Nubians to carry baskets, and we began
our first excavation on 31st Dec.

In such a casual way could an excavation be started at that time; but it
was properly supervised in the general manner of the period, and the

31 Lady Cecil’s journal is kept in Biltmore House, Ashville, North Carolina. I am grateful
to the late James Manning for drawing it to my attention, and to Julie Bledsloe, Registrar
of the Biltmore Estate, for providing photocopies and transcripts of relevant sections.

CHIEF INSPECTOR

Cecils were conscientious. ‘The work was intensely interesting and we
spent all day out in the desert watching the work.’ Maspero visited the
site and gave his blessing by enlarging the area covered by the ‘permit’.
Lady Cecil was punctilious: ‘I have kept a daily diary of all the details of
our excavation’ which would be ‘the report which I have to make offi-
cially to the government on all our discoveries.’ In due course this report
appeared in the Annales du Service des Antiquites de I’Egypte, in some
respects a model publication of its kind and of its time. 32

Letters from Carter to various members of the Amherst family contain
information which sheds light on the informal, relaxed, ways in which such
work was conducted. ’ 3 To Lady Amherst on 31 August 1902, from Cairo:

Do you not think that Lady William Cecil’s excavations were most
successful and exceedingly interesting. Great credit is due to her in the
way they were carried out. Maspero was very pleased. Sorry I had to
grab some of the best things but could not do otherwise .... I am sure
it was a good thing or rather a good way of spending the time - with a
pleasant result at the end.

In the spring of 1904 while Lady William was again at Aswan, not
having a very successful season, a sensational discovery of papyri with
texts written in the Aramaic script was made by sebakh workers. Carter
wrote almost immediately to Lord Amherst on 24 March:

An important find of Aramaic papyri was made this season by some
natives at Aswan; either in the sabach works at the south end of the
Island of Elephantine, or in the mounds of the ancient town of Aswan
between the Railway Station and the Cataract Hotel when a new road
was made early in the winter. These documents are apparently of a
lady - betrothal deeds — dating in the time of Artaxerxes I to Darius II.
They are most important, they being in the original Biblical language,
and mentioned the citadel and fortresses of Aswan as well as the
mixed courts (the Hebrew court being mentioned). As far as I am able
to tell these are the only Aramaic papyri existing, excepting perhaps a
few fragments now at Berlin.

32 ‘Report of work done at Aswan’, in A.S.A.E. 4 (1903), pp. 5 Iff; and a second report
on work in early 1904 in vol. 6 (1905), pp. 273ff.

33 The Amherst Letters in the possession of Dr Bob Brier. Further quotations in E.E.S.
Newsletter 6 (Oct. 1990), p. 5.

HOWARD CARTER

Of the find, Lady William was fortunate enough to obtain 4 more
or less perfect ones and Billy some pieces. 6 other documents were
purchased by Mr. Robert Mond. . . . Mond has very kindly given to me
his documents for the Cairo Museum. I am to make facsimiles of the
same with his permission for carte-blanche to publish, facsimiles by
hand and photos: reproductions for distribution to the scientific world
.... As most probably all these papyri belong to one another, I cannot
help but think that they should be published together - would you
kindly allow this, and let yours be published with the others.

This letter was sent along with one from Lady William to her father. She
is thrilled by her acquisition and intends to bring them back to Lord
Amherst, sealed and unrolled as they are. They could then be unrolled,
facsimiled and photographed for publication. She adds: ‘He (i.e. Carter)
considers them too valuable to be returned to Egypt after once in England
.... Professor Sayce is wildly excited about them.’

In the end the Cecil papyri joined the Mond papyri in the Cairo
Museum. Either Carter or Maspero had convinced Lady William that this
would be the proper course. But for such a generous act there would be a
recompense, a kind of bonne bouche for good behaviour. Carter wrote to
Lady William on 1 1 June 1904 as follows:

I came down to Cairo yesterday and Monsieur Maspero told me that
he had sent you some photos of statues from the Karnak find for you
to choose from in exchange for the papyri that we took from you. He
shew [sic] me the statues today and suggested that the large standing
one was the best - this I certainly agree, and it is really a very good one
and personally I advise taking it, but if Lord Amherst does not think
he would like it, I will do what I can and getting anything else, though
I cannot say that you can [do] much better. The work is good and the
figure bears the cartouche of Psamtik.

The work indeed was good, and Lord Amherst did like it. It was a
standing figure of Harbes holding an image of Osiris, and dated to the
late sixth century BC. 34 It was one of the many hundreds of sculptures
retrieved from a vast deposit of mostly votive statuary found in the
Karnak Temple in 1903 and subsequent years - so many in fact that

34 Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (no. 19.2.2); see The Brooklyn Museum, Egyp-
tian Sculpture of the Late Period 700 B.C. to A.D. 100 (New York, 1960), p. 55, pis 44, 45.

CHIEF INSPECTOR

Maspero felt able to dispose of some which might be considered dupli-
cates, or, at least, not needed for the Cairo Museum. For its time this was
a sensible and practical policy, and could be used, as in the case of the
Aramaic papyri, to the advantage of both sides. The papyri of the find
were in due course published at Robert Mond’s expense in a handsome
large volume. ’ 5 The texts were dealt with by Sayce and by A. H. Cowley
of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The quite excellent photographs of the
papyri were by Carter who had carried out the delicate task of unrolling
the little packets himself. No facsimiles were in the end made.

Carter relished his practical talents and enjoyed exercising them as
circumstances allowed. Photography was as much a hobby as a profes-
sional aptitude; unrolling papyri was for him new — having missed his
special opportunities in the fiasco of the Mendes library in 1893 — but his
dexterity with such fragile materials demonstrated his ability to handle
delicate objects with professional success. He continued his artistic work,
both in the completion of the plates for Naville’s great Deir el-Bahri
volumes, and in accepting commissions for other archaeological work.
He painted a series of watercolours of precious objects for a lavish publi-
cation by the German Egyptologist Friedrich Freiherr von Bissing, 36 and
was used by Theodore Davis to make coloured illustrations for the
volumes resulting from Iris excavations. 3 And whenever he could, he
took his paintbox to monument or landscape in the Theban area. But
there was one activity in which he wished above all to engage, and that
was excavation. When he became Chief Inspector his experience in
digging was very slight, but he already had something in mind which he
quickly obtained permission from Maspero to pursue. It had, like an
unspent coin, been burning a hole in his pocket of intention.

It was what came to be known as El-Bab el-Hosan, the Tomb (literally
Gate) of the Horse/’ 8 One day in November 1898, while Howard Carter
was working on the reliefs at Deir el-Bahri, there was a very heavy rain-
storm which did dreadful damage to the expedition house, and to the

35 A. H. Sayce and A.E. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri discovered at Assuan (London, 1906).

36 F. W. von Bissing, Ein thebanischer Grabfund aus den Anfang des neuen Reichs (Berlin, 1900).

37 Of these volumes dealing with tombs on which Carter worked, The Tomb ofThoutmosis
IV (London, 1904); The Tomb of Hatshopsitu (London, 1906). For his paintings in The
Tomb of louiya and Touiyou (London, 1907), see p. 155 below.

38 For Carter’s official report see A.SA.E. 2 (1901), pp. 201 f£; the late sketch in G.I.
Carter Notebook 16 (sketch III), is less reliable in detail. The date of the discovery,
given otherwise as late spring 1898 in the sketch, is confirmed as November 1898 in a
letter from Carter to Grueber, Hon, Treasurer of the E.E.F., E.E.S. Archive XI e 18.

HOWARD CARTER

ancient paint on the walls of the temple. He went off with his artist-
colleague Charles Sillem to see what the effects may have been elsewhere,
and on his return to the house his horse stumbled, and both it and rider
fell. The small hole which had caused the tumble had traces of stone-
work in it and Carter concluded that there might be a tomb below. In due
course he informed Naville in the hope that the Egypt Exploration Fund
might be interested in investigating. The hole, however, lay outside the
area allotted to the Fund for its work, and Naville did not follow the
matter up. So Carter waited until his opportunity came in January 1900
and he was allowed to begin work with the help of funds provided by a
private individual who has not been identified. The operations which
followed were huge in scope and rather disappointing in result; but they
were his first important piece of independent excavation.

What might have seemed in prospect to be a simple matter of opening
up a small shaft and clearing a chamber or two turned into a mammoth
task. The small opening led to a vast man-made cleft in the rock of the
valley floor, with a sloping descent leading to a blocked-up and sealed
entrance at a depth of 17 metres. This apparently unbreached barrier
suggested a possibly unrobbed burial. So far the work had taken until 10
March — a wearisome labour with a large number of men. When this cleft
was reopened in 1923 by the Egyptian Expedition of die Metropolitan
Museum of Art, it took 200 men and boys ‘slaving’ for 3 weeks to empty
it 39 Beyond the blocked entrance Carter found a sloping shaft 150 metres
long, which led down into a large chamber containing a statue wrapped in
linen, a wooden coffin inscribed but with no owner’s name, and some
miscellaneous pots and remains of food offerings. A vertical filled-in shaft
in the floor of the chamber promised to lead to the actual burial chamber.
Carter put his men to clear it, but by 20 April he felt obliged to discontinue
the work for the summer. He began again in early December, shoring up
the sides of the shaft and hoping for success. He wrote to Lady Amherst: 40

I am hard at work trying to get to the bottom of the tomb I found at
Deir el-Bahari last year [i.e. last season], I trust to manage it soon
though under difficulties — the men have now got down 97 metres
vertical drop [i.e. from ground-surface level] and still no end, but
cannot help but think the end will come soon; then there are chances
of perhaps a good find, it being untouched.

39 H. E. Winlock, Excavations at Deir el Bahri 1 91 1—1 931 (New York, 1942), p. 85.

40 Letter of 19 December 1900; the Amherst Letters in the possession of Dr Bob Brier.

CHIEF INSPECTOR

Alas! His hopes were to be frustrated. On 31 December, when the shaft
itself had reached a depth of about 30 metres below the floor of the
chamber, a small blocked room was found. It contained only three rough
wooden boats and a few pots. The anticlimax was in itself bad enough,
but worse, he had foolishly alerted Lord Cromer, the British Consul-
General and virtual ruler of Egypt, suggesting that possibly an intact
tomb, even a royal tomb, had been found. As Maspero wrote to Naville: 41

He had announced his discovery too soon to Lord Cromer. Lord
Cromer came to be present at his success and he is now [in despair?] at
not having been able to show him anything of what he had foretold. I
console him as best I can, for he truly is a good fellow and he does his
duty very well.

One final discovery, a small wooden box, buried in another, but much
shorter, shaft, produced at least a good clue to the identification of the
person for whom this ‘tomb’ had been prepared. The texts on it were
inscribed for ‘the son of Re, Mentuhotpe’, undoubtedly one of the kings
of that name who ruled as the later Eleventh Dynasty. It would be only a
few years later before the identity of this king would be clinched as
Nebhepetre Mentuhotpe II (c. 2061-2010 BC), the builder of the great
funerary monument in the bay at Deir el-Bahri, 500 years before
Hatshepsut’s remarkable temple complex was conceived. Again Naville
was to excavate it for the Egypt Exploration Fund.

The status of this ‘tomb’ discovered by Carter remains somediing of an
enigma, 42 as does the precise identification of the extraordinary sculpture
that had been found swathed in linen. It is of sandstone, shows a king
somewhat larger than life-size, seated on a plain throne, wearing the red
crown of Lower Egypt (one of the two regional crowns of royalty), and a
short cloak of the kind worn by the king at his heb-sed, or festival of
renewal. 45 The carving is immensely powerful and gives a strong impres-
sion of primitive authority, enhanced by the black colouring of die exposed
skin - a colouring associated by the Egyptians with death. This statue alone
might now be considered ample return for all the effort of die excavation.

41 Geneva MS. 2529, 223, of 8 January 1901 (in French).

42 For the alternatives, see I. E. S. Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt (rev. ed., Penguin, 1985)
pp. 199f.

43 Much photographed; see K. Lange and M. Hirmer, Egypt (4th ed. London, 1968), pis
XI and 81.

HOWARD CARTER

After the discovery of this, perhaps dummy, tomb of Mentuhotpe, what
was to come next? Carter’s passion to excavate was by no means dimin-
ished by his relative disappointment at the outcome of his first substantial
operation. It had, however, been a much more arduous and cosdy piece of
work than he had expected, and the prospect of being able to dig again on
behalf of the Antiquities Service and at their expense was very remote. All
available funds were needed for the rehabilitation of the tombs that were
already known, especially the royal sepulchres in the Valley of the Kings.
Carter’s success in making these tombs more accessible and more agree-
able to visitors during his years in Thebes was generally admitted. His
improvements included a donkey park for a hundred animals — how much
more pleasant than the coach and car parks that have to be provided one
hundred years later! But working methodically in the Valley of the Kings
did provide Carter with excellent opportunities to survey the main valley
and the subsidiary side valleys, to become thoroughly acquainted with the
great tombs in which he carried out his work of conservation, and to
develop a desire to excavate in the area on his own account. 44 The way out
of the financial difficulty was to find an enthusiastic and wealthy private
individual who would put up the funds. The choice was Theodore Davis,
the American businessman, whose interest in all the work progressing at
Thebes had been made apparent in his visits to Egypt over a number of
years. He had already in 1900 provided the financial backing for one
season of Newberry’s work on the private tombs at Thebes, and he, with
Mrs Andrews, had benefited by the acquisition of a splendid bronze bowl.
Mrs Andrews was his constant companion on his Egyptian trips, and in
her diary she records the many meetings they had with Howard Carter
from the time of his appointment as Chief Inspector. The references
move from the impersonal to the formal, and even to the enthusiastic. On
17 January 1900 Carter took the Davis party to the tomb of Amenophis
II, a visit already described; 20 January 1900, ‘Mr. Carter came to lunch
. . . . He is the Inspector of Antiquities for Upper Egypt’; 11 February, tea
at Carter’s house; 12 February, ‘Mr. Carter to dine, and we had a pleasant
evening’; 3 February 1901, the Davis party invited to dine with Carter and
to visit the tomb of Sennedjem which was not generally open to the
public, ‘an excellent dinner . . . brilliant litde tomb . . . our ride home was
entrancing’; 17 January 1902, ‘Carter dined with us - always so pleasant -
in spite of his dominant personality.’ Earlier on this last day she reports:

44 For brief details of Carter’s work in the Valley up to early 1902, see Reeves, Valley of the
Kings, pp. 289f.

100

CHIEF INSPECTOR

‘After lunch, Maspero and Carter walked about with Theodore to fix upon
the site of an exploration, which Theodore under Carter is to make in the
Valley of the Tombs.’ 4 '’ It is clear that Carter took some trouble to develop
a friendly relationship with Theodore Davis and Iris party through social
activities and by the archaeological indulgences of special visits — always
appreciated by those who have seen all the standard tourist sites time and
again. If it were a conscious process of softening up the rich American, it
worked; and if, as Carter later maintained, he was responsible for
proposing Davis’s involvement in excavation on behalf of the Antiquities
Service, 46 then he could claim substantial credit for having instituted a
series of Davis excavations which found more tombs than any previous
series. Carter was in charge until 1904; thereafter Davis worked with
greater independence, although still nominally for the Antiquities
Service. 47

The first season was something of a trial-run for Carter, as indeed it
was for Davis. Several places in the main valley and in one side valley
were tested, and some modest discoveries made: a tomb-shaft, possibly
the burial place of Userhet, an overseer of the fields of Amun, of Eight-
eenth-dynasty date, robbed and reused, and its few remaining contents
destroyed by rain water; also a box containing two leather loincloths of
extremely fine cut-work belonging to the burial of a Maherper, whose
tomb, of approximately the same date, had been found a few years earlier
by Victor Loret. The results were not spectacular, but they were sufficient
to enable Carter to obtain Davis’s support for a second season. And so at
the start of 1903 he turned his workmen on the mounds of debris clut-
tering the small valley running roughly eastwards from the tomb of
Sethos I, at the head of which was a known tomb, only pardy excavated
and unidentified. Here within a few days he found indications of the
burial of King Tuthmosis IV, eighth monarch of the Eighteenth Dynasty
(c. 1401-1391 BC), and shordy afterwards the unmistakeable entrance to
a tomb. In front of the entrance two holes dug in the rock contained
complete foundation deposits - groups of small vessels and model imple-
ments - inscribed with the king’s name. Such deposits, invested with
magical power, placed at the entrance to or corners of important build-
ings, inaugurated, marked and sanctified them. With this discovery Carter
felt sure that he had found his first royal tomb in the Valley.

45 Diary entry in transcript 1902, p. 75.

46 G.I. Carter Notebook 16, p. 116.

47 See Reeves, Valley of the Kings , pp. 292ff.

101

HOWARD CARTER

Theodore Davis had at this important moment left Thebes for Aswan,
and Carter was faced with something of a dilemma. Should he enter the
tomb, or should he wait for Davis to return, and for Maspero and
perhaps others to come down from Cairo? He sensibly remembered the
mistake he had made in inviting Lord Cromer to the opening of the
Mentuhotpe tomb, and so he decided to make a preliminary entrance
with Mr Robb de Peyster Tytus, an American friend of Theodore Davis.
Tytus had spent a number of seasons excavating, with Percy Newberry’s
assistance, the palace of King Amenophis III at Malkata, a little to the
south of Medinet Habu, and was a familiar figure in the excavation
camps and the dahabija salons of Luxor. On entry into the new tomb,
Carter and Tytus found a sepulchre which had been robbed at least twice
in antiquity, with some rooms decorated with splendidly painted reliefs
and ritual texts, the main chamber littered with fragments of vessels of
many different materials and of other items of funerary furniture, a
magnificent but empty quartzite sarcophagus, and the body of a war
chariot. 48 Entry was difficult and dangerous, and the way was inter-
rupted, as often, by a deep well - a protective device and also, probably, a
sump to catch rain water which might flood into the tomb. It had been a
prudent move to enter in advance of a formal opening, and the common
sense of it should be remembered and carried forward to the time when
Carter returned to the tomb of Tutankhamun by night with the Earl of
Carnarvon and surreptitiously entered the burial chamber — an act for
which they were subsequently vilified. Now at least he had carried out his
reconnaissance, appreciated the hazards, and was in a position to prepare
for an ‘official’ opening at a later date. In any case, he was now Chief
Inspector, the man on the spot, and responsible for the affairs of the
Antiquities Service locally.

Without much delay he let Theodore Davis know the good news by
travelling himself to Aswan and allowing his financial backer to partici-
pate proprietorially in the discovery: ‘This is a fine success both for Theo
and for Carter,’ notes Emma Andrews in her entry for 21 January. So
Davis, without actually rushing, reduced his party’s stay in Aswan to
three days, and was back in Luxor by 1 February. Two days later the
opening party gathered in the Valley. There were eighteen people alto-
gether, according to Mrs Harriet Cox whose two daughters were

48 Carter’s official account is given in H. Carter and P. E. Newberry, The Tomb ofThout-

mosis I]/ (London, 1904); an informal account in his sketch ‘Six milk white camels’, in

G.I. Notebook 16, pp. 131ff.

102

CHIEF INSPECTOR

included. Mrs Cox wrote from Aswan a few days later to Lady William
Cecil including general comments on the tomb and its contents. She
remarks: 49

It appears that Mr. Carter made the opening arrangements so perfectly
that the visitors had electric light along with them as they penetrated
into the inner chambers and altogether it was a profoundly interesting
experience to be present, for which my girls have to thank Mr.
Maspero.

Mrs Andrews’s account contains numerous untechnical details which
provide something of the flavour of the occasion: 511 ‘Carter was not to be
seen, he had been down in the tomb since 4 o’clock having slept before it
with his guards. ... he emerged looking like a ghost — his careful man
was waiting for him with a thick ulster, which he clapped upon him, and
he was given some water and a cigarette.’ She went in with Maspero and
Davis, descending with difficulty two long inclines, the second of which
was so low that ‘Maspero being so stout had to actually lie down, with his
feet sometimes on Carter’s shoulders.’ She notes the well over which
Carter slung a precarious suspension bridge, the fine decorations, an
hieratic graffito indicating that the tomb had been entered, no doubt for
purposes of inspection and perhaps rehabilitation, in the eighth year of
King Horemheb (c. 1312 BC). The great burial hall had no decoration,
but ‘was strewn with a mass of beautiful debris. . . . Carter had placed
boards along which we walked, and were requested not to step off them.’
They saw the sarcophagus and the ‘dash board of a war chariot. . . .
Maspero was delighted with this, as it is absolutely unique.’ And then out
they came — more difficult than getting in — had lunch and were home by
5 o’clock - ‘we were glad enough to have tea’. And so another exciting
day passed.

The social side of excavation, as exemplified by this occasion, was an
inevitable concomitant of having patrons and of having to maintain the
interest of senior officials and government servants. The serious side of
the work, however, could not be neglected, and Carter was here receiving
a further lesson in balancing priorities; it was his responsibility to see
that the main purpose of this excavation was carried through without

49 Letter dated 7 February 1903, in The Amherst Letters in the possession of Dr Bob
Brier.

50 Diary entry for 3 February; transcript for 1903, pp. 135ff.

103

HOWARD CARTER

compromise. To this end the electric light, the rope hand-rails, the walk-
ways placed over potentially valuable archaeological material, the limita-
tion of the size of parties viewing the tomb, all contributed to the kind of
control which was not so common in excavations of that period, and
indeed might not be maintained in later Davis excavations supervised by
others. Nevertheless, priorities were not determined in quite the same way
in 1 903 as they would be in a relatively few years’ time when a new gener-
ation of excavators, many of them Americans, would focus greater effort
on the recording of fragmentary material previously considered to be of
little interest. Howard Carter with his touch of Petrie training was more
aware than most of his contemporaries excavating in Egypt that small and
damaged objects had their own stories to tell. So in the final publication
of the tomb of Tuthmosis IV, which was written principally by Carter and
Newberry and lavishly financed by Theodore Davis, a fair amount of
space was devoted to the so-called secondary finds. 31 But most attention
was given to the very special chariot body with its leather covering
embossed with scenes of the king engaged in war-like activities — scenes
which were copied exquisitely by Carter in his confident yet sensitive line.

To open up one royal tomb would now be thought quite sufficient for
one season, but for Carter in 1 903 Tuthmosis IV was just the beginning.
It was followed by the investigation of another smaller tomb in the same
side valley, not far from the entrance to the known tomb of Ramesses-
Mentuhirkhopshef, a son of Ramesses IX of the Twentieth Dynasty.
Here again the discovery was disappointing, and Carter’s summary
report must reflect his conclusion that time should not be wasted on it. 32

50 after making a rather perfunctory record of its contents, and
removing one or two objects, he closed the tomb again. It was reopened
in 1906 by Edward Ayrton, at that time Theodore Davis’s executive
archaeologist, who apparently removed a mummy in a coffin before
closing it once more. It remained closed, and indeed lost, until 1989
when it was once more investigated by Dr Donald Ryan as part of a
campaign to re-examine a group of small neglected tombs in the Valley
of the Kings. What may have seemed unimportant in 1 903 can achieve
much greater archaeological significance when the techniques of nearly
one hundred years later are applied. 33

51 See n. 48 above.

52 In A.S.A.E. 4 (1903), p. 176.

53 A useful general account by Dr D. Ryan, ‘Who is buried in KV 60?’, in K.M.T 1 (Spring

1990), pp. 34ff.

104

CHIEF INSPECTOR

There was yet more to be done. A little way to the north of tomb 1 9,
at the head of the side valley and tucked under the cliff, was the entrance
to tomb 20 which had been noted and planned, in so far as it could be
entered, in the early nineteenth century. It might have been thought an
unpromising prospect, but again Carter, by careful examination, sharp-
ened anticipation of an interesting result by the discovery of two founda-
tion deposits — ‘(as in the case of Thothmes IV)’, as he put it — in front of
the tomb-entrance, containing objects inscribed for Queen Hatshepsut; 34
earlier in the season he had found nearby an alabaster saucer and a scarab
carrying the queen’s name. He was convinced, and wrote to his old chief
Naville:

If you look at the map, you will find that Tomb No. 20 is exactly
central with the axis of D. E. B. [Deir el-Bahri], I have opened the
passage and now cleared 170 metres down now working in the Tafl
[shale] strata and still no signs of the Tomb chamber, the plan being
similar to the rest, only elongated and very rough owing to the bad
quality of the rock; the heat is awful and work very slow and cannot
continue until I get tubes and fans for air. . . .

I do not hope for an untouched tomb and fear rain water will be a
great enemy, but hope for the best. As I shall not continue until next
October, it would be awfully nice if you would come and assist in the
opening, which I expect will be some time in November. ... I shall
not touch anything by myself, or until after somebody has seen it. Of
course Maspero will be there.

Predictions are usually wrong in archaeology. When work was resumed
in mid-October 1903, progress was pitifully slow. The ‘rubbish’, as
Carter called the blocking material, mostly valley debris, was packed hard
by successive floods of rain water. Pickaxes were needed, and in some
places it was difficult to distinguish between virgin rock and ‘rubbish’. It
was scarcely excavation, although sharp eyes were always required to spot
the occasional fragments of funerary equipment in the tomb corridors
and rooms as the debris was quarried away. Every yard had to be fought
for, and the work extended well beyond Christmas and into the New

54 So he states in a letter of 2 May 1903 to Naville, Geneva MS. 2542, 79ff. Subsequently,
in the final publication, T. Davis, E. Naville and H. Carter, The Tomb of Tiatshopsitu
(London, 1906), Carter mentions only £ a foundation deposit’ (p. 77). Could £ a deposit’
comprise two pits?

105

HOWARD CARTER

Year. Mrs Andrews reports a visit to the tomb by Theodore Davis on 12
February. 53 At last the entrance to the burial chamber had been reached.
Carter and Newberry went in to look beyond the blocking; Newberry
could not stand the foul air and retreated ‘looking very ill’. Carter made
two attempts to investigate and was able to identify a large chamber with
rooms opening out of it. ‘When Carter emerged from the tomb, he was a
horrid object dripping and wet from the heat, with a black dust over his
face and hands - he was very sick too, and had to lie down for some-
time.’ Final clearance of the burial chamber came on 10 March, and the
tomb was ‘completed’ by the end of the same month.

In spite of the effort and the miserable conditions of work, Carter
found time to write a long and informative letter to Lady Amherst on 1 8
March: 56

I fear the paper reports are incorrect as regards it being found intact;
contrariwise it is very much plundered and it only contains the
Queen’s sarcophagus, canopic box, and the sarcophagus of her father
Thothmes I. Beside them, among the rubbish many fragments of
broken stone vases were found bearing the Queen’s names, some of
her father, Thothmes II, and Ahmes-Nefertari.

After a very full description of the tomb and of the difficulties of the
work, he sums up the discovery:

I think we have obtained from the sundry inscriptions on the
sarcophagi and broken fragments of vases a good [harvest] of histor-
ical interest and it is in that way, notwithstanding the discovery itself,
that we have been fully repaid.

This assessment of the excavation, which had taken 15 months over
all, may appear to be making the best of a disappointing outcome. But
Carter would now surely be judged to have assessed correctly. He had
found what had to be found; he observed what was to be seen, although
not with the precision expected in excavation today; he then published
with his associates what had been found, illustrating the most important
objects - the fine sarcophagi and the canopic chest in particular - and
what he considered to be the best and most informative of the

55 Diary entry for 12 February; transcript for 1904, p. 24.

56 The Amherst Letters in the possession of Dr Bob Brier.

106

CHIEF INSPECTOR

fragments. He offered some interpretation of the tomb: that it was exca-
vated for Queen Hatshepsut, to be used by her and for the burial of her
father, King Tuthmosis I, transferred from his original tomb (no. 38)
elsewhere in the Valley. This interpretation has been challenged in recent
years with good reason, 5 ' and an alternative, which seems to fit the
archaeological facts more reasonably, postulates the cutting of the tomb
originally for Tuthmosis I, later extended by Hatshepsut with the inten-
tion of making it her tomb also; she was not, however, buried there and
subsequently, possibly in the reign of Tuthmosis III, the body of Tuth-
mosis I with some funerary equipment was moved back to tomb no. 38.
It is to Carter’s credit that his records of the excavation, published and
unpublished, allow significant reinterpretation.

From statements made by Maspero, mentioned earlier, 38 it would
appear that in the spring of 1904 Carter still expected to spend at least
one more winter season in the southern inspectorate. His projected
move to the north was ultimately not to be significantly delayed, and
indeed, again according to Maspero, he decided in June to make the
move in the autumn of that year. There seems to have been no special
reason to prompt this apparent change of plan. He remained on good
terms with Theodore Davis, and the maintaining of the latter’s support
for work in the Valley of the Kings should have offered Carter the pros-
pect of the continuation of his own preferred activity. Yet, strangely, in
his letter to Lady Amherst on 18 March he asks: 59 ‘I wonder if Lord
Amherst would like me to look for the tomb of Amenhotep I; this I
spoke about when in England. If so I can do it this summer before I
leave for Lower Egypt.’ He had, therefore, known as earlv as March of
his move from Thebes. The search for the new royal tomb would be a
kind of last Theban fling. It is also fascinating to discover that he had
already in 1 904 developed a wish to find that particular tomb. It was to
become quite an obsession, and would occupy his attention a few years
later when he had left the Antiquities Service; and eventually in 1914 he
was apparently successful in his search. 60 This letter to Lady Amherst
provides the first indication of his interest, predated as he says by talks
with Lord Amherst in 1903. The original stimulation may even have

57 See J. Romer; in J.E.A. 60 (1974), pp. 119f£; also C. N. Reeves, Valley of the Kings , p. 13,
for a useful summary of the arguments.

58 R 91 above.

59 This and the following letter in The Amherst Letters in the possession of Dr Bob
Brier.

60 See p. 193 below.

107

HOWARD CARTER

come from the discovery of the funerary chapels of Amenophis (Amen-
hotep) I and his queen Ahmose Nefertari in 1896 and 1898 by Spiegel-
berg and Newberry. There is, however, no more than a suggestion in the
letter that Carter knew where to look. But he would have been
conducting the search as Chief Inspector, with Amherst funding any
serious work. Progress was disappointing; a further letter to Lady
Amherst on 11 June contained no encouraging news; another on 23 July
was equally unpromising. Here he outlines his winding-up programme:

tours of inspection in Upper Egypt until the 15 of August, then to
Cairo for Lower Egypt work until the 15th September, then back
again until the end of October when Maspero returns and Quibell
(who is now in England) and change over. If possible I hope to find
Amenhotep I tomb some time in October, or rather what I should like to
do. Direcdy any real and certain promises show I shall request £ — s — d.
At present I have been making the investigations on economies.

A letter from Cairo to one of the Miss Amhersts on 2 December 1904
marks the end of the search, at least for the time being: ‘In the Amen-
hotep I tomb I was quite unsuccessful as far as I got but I shall stick to it
when next I go there.’

Howard Carter’s five years as Chief Inspector at Luxor wound down
quietly to the end. Much had happened, much had been achieved. He
had lived in many ways a strange, almost unnatural, life, tied to Iris post
with only two summer leaves to England (in 1901 and 1903). His year
swung from a winter of feverish activity, professional and social, to a
summer of isolation, discomfort and the duties of inspection. For most
of his time at Thebes he lived in a house of the Antiquities Service at
Medinet Habu. The intention was to provide a properly designed Inspec-
torate house and offices — between Karnak and Luxor on the eastern
bank of the Nile, but lack of funds delayed its completion until after
Carter had moved to Cairo. The Medinet Habu house was apparently
reasonably spacious and had a good verandah with an arcade, and a large
enclosure in the front. Carter embellished it with a garden and ‘peopled’
it with unusual tame animals — almost a free-range menagerie of the kind
he had known in his childhood at Rich Terrace. All this was to be
expected from one of whom Mrs Andrews said: 61 ‘His taste for all
natural things is so charming to me’; and again: ‘We admired the little

61 Diary entry for 11 February; transcript for 1900, p. 100.

108

CHIEF INSPECTOR

house, and the pretty garden within the enclosing walls. There was a real
avenue of scent [i.e. sunt - acacia] trees.’ Apart from Iris horse Sultan,
whom it seems found the tomb of Mentuhotpe II for his master, he had
a series of pets, many of which fatefully suffered sad ends. A pair of
young gazelles was taken in not long after he arrived at Medinet Habu;
they were killed in some tragic way. To an enquiry from his mother he
answered: ‘No my Dear Mater, all that remains of my poor Gazelles are 2
tomb stones on a cairn in the dessert \sic\ . The story being too sad, to
repeat.’ Later came his young donkey San Toy: ‘He used to go through
the house looking for Carter, and when he found him he would bray with
delight.’ Poor San Toy! In the summer of 1902 he was bitten in the
mouth by a cobra and died in three hours. He was not the last of Carter’s
pets to meet a violent death.

As ever, birds, their observation and painting, helped him to survive in
the long hot summer months at Thebes. In one of his late sketches,
‘Summer Life at Thebes, and the tale of the “Rat and the Snake” ’, which
is concerned principally with his experiences of Arab story-telling in the
villages of the Theban necropolis, he writes briefly of the life he led
during these summer months. There was the work of inspection to be
done during the day, but the evenings could be long and trying. 6- He
describes how, during the time of the inundation of the Nile, when the
flood-waters covered the cultivated fields and approached close to his
house, he would in the evening take a small boat out on the shallow
basins between the desert and the main stream of the Nile and watch
birds, particularly the pelicans. He did not read much. In one version of
his autobiographical sketch he admits: 6 ’ ‘I work extremely hard when it
pleases me, and when it does not, I can be extremely idle. Although I am
a lover of books, my regret is that I never read sufficiently.’ His natural
bent was to things practical; he was a good doer, but not much of a
student or writer, particularly at this early stage in his career. He had in
fact a good natural talent for expressing himself, and his published mate-
rial of the time — official reports on excavations - were clearly written
and just as adequate in scholarly terms as those written by many of his
contemporaries. No doubt these reports had been subjected to some
form of editing by friends like Newberry. His private letters reveal
serious weaknesses of spelling, grammar and syntax, confirming all that

62 Sketch V in G.I. Carter Notebook 16, pp. 114ff. It includes tales told to him over local
coffee-hearths; they are somewhat ‘literary’ and contrived.

63 With Jonathan Carter; possibly earlier than that of G.I. Carter Notebook 15.

109

HOWARD CARTER

he had said about his inadequate education. Even so, these letters are not
illiterate; they have considerable strengths of expression, and seem to
reproduce the staccato style of utterance which people later mentioned
in talking about his way of speaking. It must be supposed that he was
very conscious of his inadequacies of education, for in later life he over-
came those that could easily be corrected by the following of good exem-
plars and by diligent application. He had much help in the preparing of
the three volumes of his popular work on Tutankhamun’s tomb; but in
his late sketches, already much mentioned and quoted, there are no signs
of ‘editing’ by literary friends; he writes fluently and colourfully, even
cultivating a grand style with occasional overblown forms of expression.

For all his attachment to the Theban area, and in spite of the plentiful
evidence from his later career and life that it was in Thebes that he felt
most at home, he did not care for the loneliness and discomfort of the
summer months: 64

This last month has been most trying in Upper Egypt and I am glad
that Maspero has kindly let me come down [to Cairo] for a time. The
hermit’s life is perhaps even more trying than the heat — during the
summer one seldom sees anybody up there [27 May 1902].

Before going on leave:

This last two years of Upper Egypt has pulled one down and am on
the sick list so shall be glad to get away [2 May 1903].

And again, just before he left for Lower Egypt:

Being here alone I found too trying and I am suffering from the same
complaint as you were when here — cannot sleep at night. I went over
to Luxor for a short time but only to return and find the same thing.
Thank goodness I am leaving for the North this next Autumn. . . .
Egypt in the winter has its charms, but Egypt in the Summer has
its — [16 May 1 904] .

Luxor was dead in the summer; the visitors were gone; the hotels
closed; the dahabijas were in the Cairo dockyards being overhauled. He
missed the lively social activity of the season, the changing company as

64 Quotations from letters to Naville, Geneva MS. 2542, 41 f., 85, 88.

110

CHIEF INSPECTOR

boats came and went, luncheon parties, dinner parties, even tea parties,
nights spent comfortably ‘on board’ in well appointed cabins. The
concomitant duties of conducting official visitors around the principal
monuments brought him into contact with important and influential
people — the Crown Prince of Siam (February 1902), Princess Henry of
Battenberg and Prince Alexander (January 1904), Mr and Mrs Joseph
Chamberlain (February 1904). 65 In March 1904 he paid his first visit to
the newly discovered tomb of Nefertari, conducting Rider Haggard who
was in Egypt collecting information for a series of articles in the Daily
Mail. 66 Such were only some of the more weighty interruptions to his
busy life of inspections and excavations. The Davis party, Professor
Sayce, the Cecils, Mond, Robb Tytus, all provided entertainment and
diversion, and exacted their toll of special visits and particular attentions.
All in all it was a bad discipline for regular work, destructive of concen-
tration, and seductive from a social point of view. On the other hand, it
helped Carter to fit more easily into the kinds of society for which he had
not been equipped by station or training; it taught him gentle manners
and the importance of hospitality, not insignificant lessons in the reign of
King Edward VII. In spite of the many distractions he yet completed
much notable work during his five years in the southern inspectorate,
and he could go north well satisfied with his achievements so far. As
Maspero’s ‘good fellow’ (bon garf on) he had justified his appointment and
not disappointed his chief.

65 Mrs Andrews’s diary charts the visits of the famous to Luxor. In addition every day
had its entertainments, and Carter was often included.

66 The articles were published on 23 April, 30 April, 7 May, 21 May, 4 June, 22 July. That
of 4 June, ‘The Debris of Majesty’ describes the visit. I am grateful to Miss Jean
Kennedy, Norfolk County Archivist, for information about the Haggard material in
the Norfolk Record Office in Norwich, and to John Larson for first apprising me of
the Daily Mail articles.

Ill

THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

In the autumn of 1904 Howard Carter changed places with J. E. Quibell,
and became Chief Inspector for Lower Egypt. He exchanged Luxor for
Cairo, moving very distincdy from the known to the unknown. His
career in Egypt had, up to this point, been spent almost wholly in the
Theban area and he had established for himself a position in which his
experience not only of this region but also of the inhabitants of the prin-
cipal towns and ancient sites made him exceptionally well equipped to
perform a Chief Inspector’s function. He knew the foreign excavators
and patrons of excavations who came regularly to this most tempting (at
that time) of ancient sites; he knew the antiquities dealers in Luxor, who
handled the material filtering from the licit and illicit excavations in
Eastern and Western Thebes, and in the rich sites north and south of
Luxor; he knew the regular wealthy visitors who wintered in their
dahabijas on the Nile, or in the Luxor Hotel, to whom he sold his water-
colours; he knew, above all, the dwellers in the Theban Necropolis.
These last, from whom the Antiquities Service had regularly drawn its
local officials, were the guardians of the tombs in more senses than one;
they preserved the intimate knowledge of the ancient places, known and
unknown to the Antiquities Service, derived from generations of system-
atic grubbing about; they were truly the descendants of the ancient
Egyptians of Western Thebes who looked after the sacred places for
public and private reasons. Carter had increasingly hob-nobbed with
them, feeling perhaps more at ease in their company than in that of the
grand and the wealthy to whom his instincts for advancement and secu-
rity irresistibly drew him. In the manner of the times, which in a sense
was the manner of the British land-owner to his tenant, Carter could play
the part of patron to client, of bey to fellah, to act de haut en bas, but
without the feeling of strict dependence which could so easily have

112

THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

turned a kind of intimacy into cringing subservience. He had used his
local contacts with some, though not complete, success in trying to solve
the mystery of the despoliation of the tomb of King Amenophis II;
information about potentially important discoveries was often, but surely
not regularly, filtered to him; occasionally inhabitants of Qurna applied
officially for permission to excavate where previously they might simply
have dug without permission. 1 Howard Carter was clearly ‘at home’ in
Western Thebes, and it may even have been the case that his comfortable
intimacy with his Egyptian neighbours contributed to his transference to
Lower Egypt. It is certain, however, that the new organization of the
Antiquities Service instituted by Maspero needed periodic adjustments,
and the switching of Carter and Quibell, together with the establishment
of a new chief-inspectorate in Middle Egypt under Lefebvre, represented
one stage in the process. Further changes in the refining of responsibility
were to come again in the spring of 1905, and again Carter was to be
substantially affected. For the moment it looked as if he quite welcomed
the change, hinting as much in a letter to Lord Amherst, written from
Cairo on 2 December 1904: 2 ‘I am now down in Cairo for good in
possession of the Lower Egyptian inspectorate. It is a nice change
though perhaps not so interesting, but after 1 1 years of Luxor one can
get a little tired and slack.’

Carter’s ‘for good’ was scarcely well expressed, for the move, so full of
expectation, turned sour within a few weeks, and one year later he had
left the Antiquities Service, this time certainly ‘for good’, initially in the
temporal sense and ultimately in terms of his own career. What happened
at Saqqara on 8 January 1905 has been seriously misrepresented both in
the facts and in the consequences in later accounts. The generally
accepted belief has been that the events of that day led to Carter’s resigna-
tion, even dismissal, from the Antiquities Service. Percy Newberry, in
many ways Carter’s oldest and most sympathetically inclined friend and
colleague throughout his career, could write in his obituary notice in the
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology ? ‘In 1903 Carter was transferred to the
Inspectorate of Lower and Middle Egypt and made his headquarters at
Sakkarah. Soon after his arrival there an incident occurred which led to
Inis resigning the post that he held under the Egyptian Government.’

1 See, for example, his reports in A.S.A.E. 1 (1900), p. 191; 2 (1901), p. 144; 4 (1903),

pp. 47, 177.

2 The Amherst Letters in the possession of Dr Bob Briers.

3 J.E.A. 25 (1939), p. 68.

113

HOWARD CARTER

The most dramatic account of the incident, reported with character-
istic lack of moderation, was given by Sir Flinders Petrie in his memories
of an exceptionally long career in the field, scarcely recollected in tran-
quillity. Writing of the season 1904—5, he speaks of the little expedition at
Saqqara led by his wife: 4

One Sunday some drunken Frenchmen tried to force their way into her
huts, and were stoutly resisted by the cook boy. They went on to the
official house and began to smash furniture and fight the native guards.
Carter, then inspector, was fetched, and he very rightly allowed the
guards to defend themselves till the police could come.

The indignity of letting a native resist a Frenchman weighed more
than the indignity of being drunk and disorderly, in the eyes of the
French Consul, who demanded an apology from Carter. With proper
self-respect, Carter refused to apologize for doing his obvious duty. For
this he was, on demand of the French, dismissed from the Service. This
was perhaps the dirtiest act of the subservience to French arrogance.

There is more than a germ of truth in Petrie’s account of what
happened on the Saqqara plateau, but his glosses and conclusions were
wildly wrong. What may, however, be said of these inaccurate reports is
that they conflate into a single incident the events of Carter’s career for
almost the whole of 1905 with their eventual consequences. Disastrous
as the whole sequence must have seemed to Carter’s friends at the time,
there can be no doubt that in the long run the outcome was very much
to his advantage.

The events of that fateful day in early 1905 were reported officially to
Maspero by Carter on 10 January: 5

About 3 p.m. on the 8th of January, 1905 some 15 visitors, whom I
believe to be French, arrived at the Necropolis of Saqqara in a rowdy
condition, some of them going to Mrs. Petrie’s camp and behaving in an
offensive manner. They eventually came to the Service’s rest-house
(known as Mariette Pasha’s Flouse) where they stayed for an hour or so

4 W. M. F. Petrie, Seventy Years in Archaeology (London, 1931), p. 192.

5 Two copies in Carter’s handwriting are contained in a transcript of materials relevant
to the Saqqara affair in the Griffith Institute: G.I. Carter Papers V, 148. There are
minor variations between the two copies; in the version given here, what seems to be
the better reading has been taken when necessary.

114

THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

talking in a loud manner and drinking. They afterwards stated a wish to
visit the monuments. Upon this the ticket-inspector Es-Sayid Effendi
Mohammed informed them that they must take tickets and he requested
the necessary fees. It was not until after some trouble that he was able to
collect the money for 1 1 tickets, the remaining persons refusing to take
tickets. The whole party then went to the ‘Serapeum’ accompanied by a
gaffir [guard], who at the entrance of the monument requested to see
who had tickets and who had not, knowing that some of the party had
not obtained tickets and thus had no right to enter. The party would not
wait for this inspection, but rushed the door and forced it open breaking
one of the side catches which held the pad-lock. Upon their finding,
when they entered, themselves in darkness they returned and demanded
candles from the gaffir. The gaffir explained to them that he had not any
candles nor did the Service supply visitors with candles. The party then
roughly handled the gaffir and demanded their money back. The gafftr
called for assistance, to which the Inspector Es-Sayid Effendi
Mohammed came, and he was treated in even a rougher manner; his
tarboush was knocked off his head and trampled upon. Reis Khalifa was
called for and was also treated in a similar way. Reis Khalifa, on hearing
from the gaffirs that one of the party had taken the pad-lock off the
door, demanded it to be given up; this was done after some difficulty.
The party still continuing to give trouble, he returned with them to the
house, where they entered with Es-Sayid Effendi Mohammed and the
gaffirs, and came at once to fetch me.

I was at that time some distance away, near the edge of the desert,
with Mr. Weigall and the Misses Kingsford and Hansard; 6 and upon
hearing from Reis Khalifa of what had occurred I immediately returned
with him to the house.

During the meantime the party had turned out the gaffirs from the
house and barricaded the doors and attempted to get the money from
Es-Sayid Effendi Mohammed, the ticket Inspector, by force.

I found the East Door of the house to be closed, the gaffirs outside,
and had some difficulty in entering. Here I found the whole party in an
excited state, and on finding one of them knew English I requested him
to give an explaination [fir].' He and all of them spoke to me in an
exceedingly rough way and I was unable to get from them a proper

6 The two ladies were in Mrs Petrie’s party. Arthur Weigall would shordy obtain an
appointment as Chief Inspector in the Antiquities Service.

7 Carter has added in pencil in the margin c Mons Hirsh’.

115

HOWARD CARTER

explanation. I then requested the above Inspector to explain to me what
had occurred, and he told me how they had entered the ‘Serapeum’ by
force and of their general behaviour. I then explained to them that they
had no right to take such steps or touch the men and that diey had no
right to be in the house, it being private property, and that they must
leave it at once. This they refused to do. I told them that if they did not
go out steps would have to be taken to remove diem and at the same
time I requested their names and addresses. They refused to do both
and became more offensive. On my again warning them, and on my
telling the gaffirs that the party must go out , 8 one of the party immedi-
ately without any reason struck a gaffir with his fist in the face and
knocked him down in a savage manner , 9 and on my interfering the same
man raised his hand and threatened to strike me. I arrested his striking
arm and warned him. The number of gaffirs, then there, being inade-
quate to remove these people, I commanded Reis Khalifa to send for
more and on their entering by the second door (south door) the whole
of the party immediately attacked them with their sticks and chairs
belonging to the Service. Seeing that die gaffirs were being very badly
knocked about I at once gave them the order to defend themselves and
drive the people out. In the affray some of the party were hit, one of
them being knocked down. The party fled leaving the injured man
which I attended to and during the meantime one of the party returned.
From outside stones were hurled at us.

I demanded the names from these two last men — this they gave me
on a visiting card - their names given were: - Georges Fabre and Ferdi-
nand Estienne. On dieir request I gave them my name and official
capacity. They left the house threatening prosecution. I sent for the
ombdeh [head-man, ‘mayor’] of Saqqara and requested the ombdeh of
Abou-zeer [Abusir], who was there, to inform the police at once of what
had happened and request them to take the necessary steps against these
people. The ombdeh of Saqqara came as soon as possible and made a
small enquiry and informed the mariquis of Avat of the same.

Some of the gaffirs were badly hurt. Chairs of the Service broken by
the party. Strict instructions were given to the gaffirs not to leave the
house while the party was outside — which order was carried out by
them and I wish to commend the gaffirs on their behaviour during die
whole affray.

8 Var. ‘must be turned out.’

9 A pencil note identifies him as ‘Jouveau’.

116

THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

Upon the arrival of the police a complete enquiry and proces verbal
was made, consisting of some 35 sheets of foolscap.

I beg to request that legal steps should be taken against these people
for assaulting the gaffirs, for raising a hand with intent to attack me, and
for damaging Government property.

This document, signed and dated by Howard Carter is completed by a
note: ‘Some of these people understood and spoke Arabic.’

From the other side, Monsieur Jouveau, Chief Book-keeper of the
Cairo Gas Company, had already submitted his account of the incident
to Maspero, dating it on 9 January 1905. 111 He reports that their party of
14, including 2 ladies and 2 children, arrived at Saqqara and took tickets
to visit the Serapeum. Having no candles to see the monument, they
asked for their money back, and they were told that the matter would be
referred to Carter. In the meanwhile, the dispute got worse and a score
of ‘beduin’ collected in Mariette’s House. Carter arrived with about 15
more, armed with sticks (j nabouts ). He refused their claim for repayment
and when they said they would not go without repayment he ordered his
subordinate in English ‘to drive away these dirty French and to strike us’.
The order was repeated in Arabic and a general scuffle began in which
about 40 individuals set upon 7 Frenchmen, the remainder protecting its
women and children. Jouveau reports that he was struck on the head
with a stone and fell ‘bathed in my blood’; that Georges Fabre fell with
his forehead cut open by a nabout, that M. Baudry fell from a nabout blow
on his back and the rest were more or less bruised.

With difficulty the party got back to Badrashein, made a report at the
police station, returned to Cairo, reported again at the police station at
the railway station, and was taken to the Governorate where medical
attention was first given.

Jouveau then requested Maspero ‘to draw the conclusion of such an
act ordered by an English official.’

Maspero was in Nubia on his annual tour of inspection at the time, and
Jouveau’s letter was received by his deputy, Emile Brugsch, who at once
wrote to Carter, sending a copy and requesting a report. Carter’s report,
given above, was the result of this request. 11 It is surprising that he had
not sent his account to Maspero on the day following the incident, but it

10 G.I. Carter Papers V, 108. See Appendix I below for the full French text.

11 G.I. Carter Papers V, 109 includes Brugsch’s letter to Carter and Carter’s covering
letter accompanying his report; both dated 10 January.

117

HOWARD CARTER

may be assumed that he felt no urgent necessity to do so as he knew that
Maspero was away and that Brugsch would have been able to take no
more than formal action. What he did do was to send a telegram to the
Earl of Cromer, on the evening of the 8th, announcing briefly what had
happened: 12

My Lord I am exceedingly sorry to inform you that a bad affray has
occurred today here Mariette’s House Saqqara 5pm. with 15 French
tourists who were here in a drunken state. The cause of the affray was
started by their rough handling both my inspector and gaffirs. As both
sides have been cut and knocked about I feel it my duty to inform your
Lordship immediately and will report the matter to you personally
tomorrow morning.

The possible repercussions from the event were surely evident to
Carter, and he was well aware that the opposing party would lose little
time in making their own official complaint. A rare personal comment
on Carter’s reaction is given by Ronald Storrs, recently arrived in Cairo as
a junior official in Finance. 1 ’ He was initially befriended by Ernest Rich-
mond, who was himself a junior official, but of a little greater seniority
than Storrs; he invited the latter to share the flat which he occupied with
Howard Carter. ‘One evening’, Storrs reports, 14 ‘Carter came in, unhar-
assed but rather fierce,’ telling them of the afternoon’s drama at Saqqara.
Storrs states, rather anticipating events, that ‘Carter was summoned by
Lord Cromer for the morrow and was of the opinion (which we shared)
that he was For It.’ Storrs’s description of what subsequendy happened
between Cromer and Carter is somewhat telescoped, and he, like others
in later recollection, attributed Carter’s departure from the Service to his
recalcitrance. He further points out the ultimate happy consequence of
this departure, likening Carter’s fate to that of Klindor in Corneille’s Illu-
sion: ‘de son bannissement il tire son bonheur. '

All this, however, is substantially to look beyond the immediate
outcome of events. As it turned out Carter was unable to see Lord
Cromer on 9 January because of the police enquiry instituted at Saqqara;

12 G.I. Carter Papers V, 107.

13 Storrs had recently joined the Egyptian civil service. He later became Oriental Secre-
tary in the Residency and, later again, Governor of Jerusalem. He became a notable
oriental specialist.

14 Sir Ronald Storrs, Orientations (London, 1937), pp. 23f. I am indebted to John Larson
for bringing this passage to my attention.

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THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

but he saw him on the following day. Carter noted, in the dossier he
compiled on the affair, that after hearing his account of what happened,
Cromer instructed him ‘to tell Monsieur Brugsch that we must put
ourselves in communication with Rocca-Serra of the Contentieux de
l’Etat.’ 13 The two went to see Rocca-Serra on the next day, and they were
instructed to write a letter to the Giza mudiriya (administrative district)
drawing the attention of the mudir (administrative head) to the report
made by Carter to the Giza police about the incident, requesting the
mudir to forward this report to the French Consulate in Cairo so that
Carter’s demand for damages for injuries and the destruction of govern-
ment property could be followed up. 16

Meanwhile news of the affair had become known and had been taken
up by the foreign-language newspapers in Cairo. The French partici-
pants made much of the scandalous nature of their treatment, and the
tone of their version of events is sufficiently conveyed by the report
published in the French-language L’Egypte on 12 January. This report
follows up a notice of the incident published the day before, and it
purports to be that of one of the party involved in the events. After
outlining the preliminary events of arrival at Saqqara, the buying of
tickets, the lack of candles and the request for the return of the ticket-
money, the correspondent speaks of the referring of the matter by the
chief ghaffir to Howard Carter ‘who was encamped not far from the
spot’. The French party then withdrew from the Serapeum to Mariette’s
House where they found armed ‘beduin’. When Carter arrived, ‘one of
the party addressed the Inspector in English asking whether there was
any reason why the money should not be refunded, and it is stated that
the Inspector replied very discourteously by a refusal, and declined to
give any explanation.’ The party, therefore, remained on the terrace of
the house until they obtained satisfaction, ‘whereupon the Inspector
immediately gave orders to his subordinate in English to eject them. The
order was repeated in Arabic to the Bedouins, who proceeded to attack
the party with their nabouts and commenced throwing stones.’ A bloody
fracas followed in which large stones were thrown. ‘Finally the wounded
were picked up from the terrace and the whole party with great difficulty
regained Bedrachein.’

1 5 The legal department of the State.

1 6 G.I. Carter papers V, 111; the text is in French.

119

HOWARD CARTER

A more sober, not so say sanctimonious, line was taken in the English-
language Egyptian Gazette on 12 January: 17

In regard to the stories about the attack on some tourists by Bedouins
at Sakhara which have been appearing in the Cairo newspapers, we
hear on high authority that there is a good deal to be said on the other
side. An official enquiry is about to be held, and we will refrain from
commenting on the affair as it is sub judice. Some of our contempo-
raries seem to us to have been a little too hasty in assuming that the
fault was entirely on one side.

The wrangle in the newspapers was characteristic of the attitudes of
the French and British communities towards each other in Egypt at that
time. The French resented the administrative near-monopoly exercised
by the British in the running of the country; the British took exception to
the cultural superiority of tire French and the fact drat French was the
lingua franca of the administration and of cultured society. The tensions
were largely confined to the ranks of junior officials and to members of
the commercial sector, and they welled up from time to time when some
apparent insult was suffered by one or other of the two dominant foreign
communities. Suspicions of intentions were deep-seated at all levels of
society and resentment came to the surface even among senior officials
and others who should have known better how to control long-estab-
lished antipathies. The words used later by Sir Flinders Petrie about
‘French arrogance’ were sadly all too representative of British prejudices;
the tone of Monsieur Jouveau’s report to Maspero embodies the contrary
French attitude — describing Carter as ‘Inspecteur en chef (Anglais)’ and
‘un fonctionnaire Anglais’. In both cases the implication is clear: how can
one expect good treatment from someone from the ‘other’ community?

Ronald Storrs noted in his brief account of the affair that Monsieur de
la Bouliniere, the French Consul-General, with whom the complaint of
the French party had been lodged ‘had no particular sympathy with the
complainants, but feared lest reports in the local gutter-press might reach

1 7 In the Egyptian Gazette of 30 January, p. 3, it is noted that three cases were pending: one
lodged by the French against Carter at the British Consulate; one by Carter at the
French Consulate; one by the French against the ghaffir in the Native Tribunals. To
simplify matters a commission had been appointed to look into the affair: ‘This solu-
tion seems an extremely practical one.’

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THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

Paris; the Entente Cordiale was hardly a year old, and Lord Cromer must
give him some satisfaction. 18

Here then were the makings of a first-class inter-community row, one
that might easily have been forestalled had a less stubborn person been
in charge at Saqqara, one that might still be hushed up or at least
suppressed if the various involved parties were to behave reasonably and,
as some would have said, in a gentlemanly manner. For Carter the issue
was quite clear, and he was convinced that his actions would be vindi-
cated. Even so, in view of the passions generated, the supposed insults
suffered on both sides, the background of racial animosities, and the
involvement of the native Egyptian guards, the outcome of the affair was
by no means assured.

As a result of the various steps taken on the simple administrative
level, but undoubtedly also through unrecorded contacts between the
office of the High Commissioner, the French Consul-General, and the
legal authorities, a commission was set up to investigate the incident.
Emile Brugsch informed Carter of the details in a letter of 23 January. 19
It was to consist of Monsieur de Hulst, counsellor at the Native Court of
Appeal, the Advocate-General of the Native Tribunals, 2 " and Monsieur
Molteni, deputy at the State Legal Department, and was to meet on the
25 January to hear the depositions of the witnesses on the side of the
Antiquities Service. Brugsch instructed Carter to appear on that day at
9.00 a.m. at the Native Court of Appeal, together with members of his
staff at Saqqara, including Reis Khalifa Roubi and six ghaffirs.

No extended account of the meeting of the commission of enquiry
has been found, but notes made by Carter at the time indicate that it
extended into a second day and that at least five members of the French
party were also examined. 21 It closed at 6.00 p.m. on 26 January. Writing
to Maspero on 31 January, Carter said of the enquiry: 22 Apparendy they
were not to make any decision but only sift evidence. I was not at all
pleased at the general atmosphere, though I feel sure that they thought I
was in the right. I believe their report is to go to the Minister of Foreign
Affairs.’ From a friendly note of enquiry from Sir William Garstin, Carter
notes the same reaction on his part. It may be thought that nothing but a

1 8 Storrs, Orientations , p. 24.

19 G.I. Carter Papers V, 116.

20 Identified elsewhere as Safwat Bey.

21 G.I. Carter Papers V, 148, p. 27.

22 G.I. Carter Papers V, 120.

121

HOWARD CARTER

standing ovation by the members of the commission of enquiry would
fully have satisfied Carter, indicating the recognition that he had not only
been in the right at Saqqara on that fateful Sunday afternoon, but had
acted with complete propriety. Although it subsequendy emerged that
the commission found ‘in my favour without doubt, die triumph was more
apparent than actual.

It was most unfortunate that Maspero was in the soudi throughout the
whole of January; his friendly advice, delivered face to face, would surely
have moderated Carter’s obstinacy and perhaps led him to accept a
course of action which he ultimately rejected. The matter had indeed
ruffled the feathers of Cairo society and sent waves of embarrassed
concern through government and diplomatic circles. It was even thought
necessary to send the Inspector of the Interior, Major Elgood, to
Saqqara on 23 January, two days after the commission met, in order
presumably to make a separate examination of Egyptian witnesses on the
spot. 2 ’ No channel of enquiry was being neglected. Reis Khalifa Roubi
had informed Carter of this visit and the latter was told subsequently by
Elgood that he had found fresh evidence from the donkey boys of the
French party. The nature of this evidence is not specified; the implication
of Carter’s note, however, is that it was to the advantage of his case,
possibly that the Frenchmen on their arrival at Saqqara were appropri-
ately influenced by the picnic luncheon they had enjoyed in the palm-
groves of Mit Rahina, the site of the ancient city of Memphis. On this
point it is worth noting that in the French report in 'L’Egypte on 12
January it is stated: ‘Les excursionnistes emportaient dans des paniers des
provisions de bouche et 12 bouteilles de vin rouge, con tenant trois
quarts de litre chacune. Sur ces 12 bouteilles, quatre furent rapportees au

Caire A 11 h. 30 tous les excursionnistes se trouverent reunis a la

statue de Ramses [at Mit Rahina], ou ils dejeunerent joyeusement.’

It says much for postal and other communications in Egypt and Nubia
at this time that Maspero was able to follow events not only in the news-
papers but also by regular correspondence. Already on 14 January he
wrote from Kalabsha noting the fuss in the Arabic newspapers and
requesting Carter’s report so that he could answer any complaint. 24 He
had unerringly estimated the potential bother that might be generated.
After receiving the reports of both sides he again wrote to Carter on 1 9
January from Debod in Nubia: ‘I think your case is good: there would be

23 G.I. Carter Papers V, 148, p. 24.

24 Extracts from Maspero ’s letters are transcribed in G.I. Carter Papers V, 148, p. 25f.

122

THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

nothing to say against us, and the issue would be certainly in our favour,
if your men had not used their nabouts. That is the bad part of the busi-
ness: policemen may be beaten, they are not allowed to beat except under
extremities.’ At Esna on 30 January he again writes to Carter asking how
the business progresses. He reports correspondence with Sir William
Garstin and Monsieur de la Bouliniere, noting that the latter will meet
him in a few days at Luxor; perhaps something can be arranged. He
urges Carter to keep him informed of developments so that ‘I may not
be taken aback in my conversation with him by something which would
be new to me.’

Carter, sadly, had formed his own conclusion, and his adamantine
nature, highly tempered by the isolation in which he found himself, stiff-
ened his resolve to yield not an inch in what he saw as the right and
proper course of action. It may be supposed that he was offered much
friendly advice both by sympathetic officials, even at the highest level,
and by such friends as he had in Cairo. Later developments were to show
that he did not lack for friends who saw the justice of his actions at
Saqqara, but who equally saw the wisdom of a little flexibility. The most
eloquent appeal for moderation came, perhaps unexpectedly, from Theo-
dore Davis, as will shortly be seen. But Maspero, French as he was, real-
ized as soon as anyone that Carter had made one serious error at Saqqara
in giving the order to his men to protect themselves. The matter now
may seem ludicrous; it was otherwise in the Egypt of 1905. In this
respect Carter was thoroughly out of step with his countrymen and other
well wishers. If his attitude had been due wholly to the necessities of
natural justice, his subsequent behaviour would surely have been wholly
meritorious. Unfortunately, it must be accepted that stubbornness,
untempered by pragmatic common sense, drove him to behave utterly
without reason. It was an element in his character which exerted itself
from time to time throughout Iris career, most notably in 1924, the year
of crisis, when the completion of the excavation, clearance and recording
of the tomb of Tutankhamun was seriously jeopardized by his attitude.
This earlier manifestation of obstinacy was not forgotten on the later
occasion, when of course far more was at stake.

His position is made quite clear in the letter he wrote to Maspero on
31 January announcing the course of the commission of enquiry,
already mentioned. He writes from Mena House, the relatively new
and splendidly appointed hotel set in spacious grounds and relative
isolation just below the pyramid plateau at Giza. Here he had come ‘to

123

HOWARD CARTER

get rid of a very bad cold I have taken for a second time this month -
After so many years in Upper Egypt I have become a hot-house plant
and do not stand the Cairo winter well.’ All who know Egypt from
multiple visits will be acquainted with the Egyptian cold, infinitely
various in its forms and symptoms, ranging from nose to throat, to
chest, to nose again, and seemingly resistant to all common medica-
ments. It is not surprising that he took such a jaundiced view of the
turn which events had taken. He takes up in his letter Maspero’s
complaint about nabouts :

You mention in your letter that you do not like the idea of giving the
order to defend - Nobody was more disgusted on the matter than
myself - But what was one to do in such a disorderly mob, threatened
and one’s men knocked about?

I fear unless these men are properly punished I shall have to decline
any further responsibility for the protection of the Service’s property
and at the same time send in my resignation owing to the impossibility
of taking any further personal risk under such conditions. Might I
remind you that my work requires me to be either 1 mile or a hundred
in the desert absolutely single handed with the exception of the
natives.

Here is the first hint that he might resign if his position were not
totally supported and action taken against the French. What the incident
reveals is the extraordinary lack of confidence shown by Howard Carter.
He had been seriously shaken by the events at Saqqara, although there is
no indication that he himself took an active part in the brawl or was in
any way hurt. Could his subsequent anger and determination to have
exemplary punishment inflicted on the wretched French be due to some
weakness in his own behaviour at Mariette’s House? That can never be
established; but it is strange that after the apparently successful passage
of arms and the routing of the French party, he was unable to show some
generosity of spirit. Did he perhaps feel that only by taking such a deter-
mined line could he confirm his standing with his Egyptian subordinates
in the Service? Again it can never be confirmed or refuted. The suspi-
cion must remain.

It probably never occurred to Lord Cromer, to Sir William Garstin, to
Monsieur Gaston Maspero, or to anyone else in Cairo at that time that
Carter would fail to toe the official line. Maspero began the attempt to

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THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

get things back on an even keel as soon as he had returned to Cairo on 3
February and seen Garstin. He writes: 2 ' 1

It is agreed with him, and I may say with Lord Cromer, that you are to
come with me tomorrow between nine and ten and pay a call on M. de
la Bouliniere there to express our regrets that the order you gave
brought so strong consequences. That will stop the matter which was
becoming irritating, and for the rest we will arrange it together.

He further states that Carter should get the ghaffirs to withdraw their
complaint and indicates that in this matter Carter had behaved irregu-
larly. His suggestion throughout this letter is that by diplomatic fudging
the whole affair will blow over:

I must add that you are not to take as different what we are going to
do tomorrow. M. de la Bouliniere, whom I have just seen, will be quite
friendly to us and it is to be more of a conversation than of a formal
meeting. I am going with you to act as an interpreter, at the same time
being head of the Department; and I will take my part of the excuses
with you.

It is not clear whether the meeting with the French Consul-General
ever took place. Carter could not or, more probably, would not see that
he was not being asked to apologize but to express regret, and he notes
in his transcript of documents that he ‘asked that these people should
either be punished in some way or be made to apologize to my Director
and that only under these conditions could I make an apology to the
French Consul-General.’ 26 He would not comprehend the subtlety of
what he had actually been asked to do.

There is much evidence that his intransigence greatly upset his
colleagues and friends. What had happened, and Carter’s refusal to offer
an expression of regret for it, had become well known, at least in Egyp-
tological circles. As early as 5 February a telegram from Theodore Davis
urged: 27 ‘Sacrifice your rights for the benefit of the Government, don’t
hesitate.’ Quibell on 10 February wrote warmly and sensitively: ‘I don’t
think you care for interference . . . you will damage your career if you

25 G.I. Carter Papers V, 121.

26 G.I. Carter Papers V, 148, p. 28 verso.

27 For Davis’s telegram, G.I. Carter Papers V, 139; Quibell’s letter, V. 123.

125

HOWARD CARTER

continue to refuse to do what your friends urge. . . . Trust Sir William
Garstin! He has always been a good friend to you.’ Arthur Weigall, appar-
ently, found it difficult to offer true commiseration, unless his approach
had been face-to-face and not by letter. He had been at Saqqara on the
afternoon of the affray, but had not accompanied Carter when he was
summoned to Mariette’s House. It seems he remained with the ladies of
Mrs Petrie’s camp, who were no doubt badly shaken by their own expe-
riences with the French, and felt in need of some protection until the
rowdy party had left the area. Subsequently Weigall took over tempo-
rarily at Saqqara, and two short communications to Carter have
survived. 28 The first, undated, but certainly written soon after the events,
reports: ‘The guards here are very nervous — think they are all going to be
imprisoned.’ A postcard, dated simply Thursday, but post-marked 13-1-
05, and therefore written on 12 January, tells Carter of the sick-leave
sought by the injured ghaffirs-. it ends simply: ‘Hope things are going well.’
Weigall was shortly to replace Quibell as Chief Inspector at Luxor, and
from his subsequent behaviour clearly did not find Carter a congenial
colleague. Carter in later years did not conceal his distrust of Weigall.
The causes of their mutual antipathy were perhaps already germinating as
early as 1905. 29

The one closely argued appeal to Carter’s good sense came from
Theodore Davis in an answer to a letter possibly sent by Carter in
response to Davis’s telegram of 5 February. It is unusually long, but is so
well argued that it may be quoted in full as a kind of summing up of the
whole affair. Davis wrote it on his dahabiya Bedaivin at Luxor, and it is
dated 10 February: 30

I duly received your letter and have in sadness and thoughtfulness
considered your attitude. You are so entirely wrong, and in danger of a
crushing blow. I cannot help laying before you a statement of your
case which you will honestly consider as coming from your friend.

The row at Sakkara was submitted to a Commission and you were
held to be justified in your activities even if you used ‘a high hand’. This
ended your connection with the affair except the police prosecution of

28 The two Weigall communications are G. I. Carter Papers V, 143 and 146. He rarely
dated a letter.

29 See p. 181 below.

30 G.I. Carter Papers V, 124.

126

THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

the men. And as Lord Cromer told you ‘it must be purely a police
question etc.’

Now comes your trouble! For some cause unknown the French
Minister asked the Gov. to desire you (or rather the ‘Inspector Genl.’)
or the Gov. to apologize for the connection the Insp. Genl. had with
the Sakkara row.

It seems that the Gov. concluded that whatever might be the rights
and wrongs of the affair it would be a wise and friendly thing to do as
between the two Governments, particularly as the French Minister
stated that he wanted only an expression of regret of the affair, a shake
of the hand etc.

Thereupon you were directed or requested to go through the form
as above stated. This you refused to do, in spite of astounding fatherly
advice of M. Maspero and Sir William (I have heard from M. Maspero
why you decline but I confine myself to your letter to me).

As per your letter your reasons are, 1st. ‘I have no doubt that the
instant that I went to the French Embassy the papers would publish at
once.’ The natural deduction from this, and certainly that of the public
would be, that thereby your pride, vanity, or self love would be
wounded. Can you for a moment lay yourself open to such attribu-
tion?? 2nd. ‘My offer has been that if these people will apologize to my
Director I will most willingly and heartily express my regrets on the
whole affair and especially for the steps taken by me.’

Have your directors asked any one to apologize to them? Have they
asked you to secure an apology? No. On the contrary they have asked
and almost begged you to make the apology, which you say you are
willing and glad to make if etc.

On what ground do you undertake to secure any apology from
anyone? Who authorized you to act for your ‘directors’? Have not your
directors repudiated your assumption that they want any apology?

My poor boy don’t you see that the public will say that it is not the
‘directors’ but Carter who want the apology, and for the same reasons
enumerated in clause one. 3rd. ‘I cannot believe that they will allow a
gentleman to be treated in such a way while endeavouring to carry out
his duty.’ Wherein have ‘they’ (directors I suppose you mean) treated
you badly? Doubtless they think you free from blame as per the report
of the Commission. They also think that the affair is closed for all
time. But one entirely new aspect has arisen. Namely the diplomatic
side of the affair and they practically say to you, Whatever may be the

127

HOWARD CARTER

details of the affair or our rights at the premises [?] let us make the
formal apology and end the business, and they simply and kindly ask
you to go through the form. Instead of treating you badly they have
treated you as a wilful son , who would not or could not see but one
side of the case, and that the wrong one. Let me say, and pardon me
for it, a gentleman will always apologize if thereby peace can be
restored and good feeling secured and no fundamental principle
violated; the more right you are, and nevertheless apologize, the more
magnanimous you are.

Finally, there is only one manly, upright and gentlemanly thing to
do, and that is to express your regrets etc. Pay no attention to whatever
the papers or vain and silly people may say! All men whose respect is
worth having will praise and approve of your action. Contemplate the
harm of being dismissed from the service ‘for disobedience’. It will
stick to you as long as you live, and all your justification will be
forgotten. I have written as a true friend should, however much you
may dislike it.

always your friend
Theodore Davis

The straight talking of this letter must have touched several raw nerves
in Carter’s over-sensitive person, not least the references to gentlemanly
behaviour. It had no recorded effect; yet Carter kept it with his dossier of
papers on the incident, although not including it in the transcript of
documents which he made as a record, possibly for later justificatory
publication. It is not impossible that Maspero had himself stimulated
Theodore Davis to write. His hand certainly seems to be behind a letter
in similar vein sent earlier to Carter on 7 February by Naville. 31 Such
interventions were requested by Maspero a little later when the likeli-
hood of Carter’s resignation from the Service seemed probable. At this
distance it may seem remarkable that Maspero persisted in his attempts
to prevent Carter’s departure. One might think that after all the bother
he had caused, his resignation might have been actively sought. This was
not so; but Carter was not to escape without further bruising.

Serious blows were struck by two letters written by Maspero from
Luxor on 17 February. The first, a formal communication in French, was
addressed to ‘Monsieur l’inspecteur en chef’, informing Carter of a reor-
ganization of the inspectorates resulting from the creation of two new

31 G.I. Carter Papers V, 145.

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THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

posts. 32 The former inspectorate of Lower Egypt was to be diminished
in size, to consist of the six tnudiriyas of the Delta with the peninsula of
Sinai. The tnudiriyas of Giza, Beni Suef and the Faiyum were to go to
others (subsequendy specified thus: Giza to Quibell; Beni Suef and the
Faiyum to Lefebvre); Alexandria to become an autonomous district
under the Director of the Museum in that city. Maspero further
informed Carter that as a result of recent events, it was thought better
that his administrative office should be not in Cairo but in Tanta in the
Delta; he should make the move no later than 15 March. Maspero stated:
‘However, I am authorised to tell you that this action [i.e. the move to
Tanta] is the consequence not of your actual action at Saqqara, but of
your attitude after the event.’

This reason was reiterated in the second, less formal, but scarcely
more friendly, letter which was written in English. 33 Maspero reports that
Sir William Garstin had that day informed him that the matter had been
settled between Lord Cromer and Monsieur de la Bouliniere. ‘The ques-
tion of excuses is settled, but as you refused to do what was asked from
you, you are reprimanded somewhat for it.’ The move to Tanta, he
explains, was because of his behaviour after the event. ‘I have written you
an official letter, which, however, is not to be sent to you until it has been
seen by Sir William Garstin, and which I have conceived in the most mild
way I could; I hope that he will approve of it, and if he can make it milder
I will accept his suggestions readily.’ Maspero then explains more fully
the changes in the inspectorates, and asserts that they had been planned
before the Saqqara incident; Carter would in any case have been trans-
ferred to Tanta; but the changes were accelerated by what had happened.
He further suggests that by making the moves at this time and with the
approval of Sir William Garstin, more serious steps could be avoided.
His final sentences are significant:

May I add that I received a letter from M. de la Bouliniere saying that,
as soon as I am in Cairo, he will send me one of the people who were
so outrageous at Sakkarah to make excuses for their conduct. Pray do
not let yourself be carried too far by your feelings, but remain with us:
you will know that I, for one, will not esteem you less nor be your
friend less than I had been up to the present time.

32 G.I. Carter Papers, V, 127.

33 G.I. Carter Papers V, 125.

129

HOWARD CARTER

In spite of his exasperation Maspero remained on Carter’s side at least
to the extent of not wanting to lose him from the Service. Could he ever
have recalled at that time the words he wrote to Naville at the very outset
of his second tour as Director General of the Service? 34 Among many
other activities he had been to Luxor to install Carter as Chief Inspector:
‘I find him very active, a very good young man, a little obstinate (enteti)’.
It must be concluded that Maspero detected sterling qualities in Carter,
and the experiences of five years including the events of recent weeks
had not led him to modify his opinion. Still he was to have his work cut
out to convince Carter that he should not resign from the Service.

In Carter’s dossier of the Saqqara events, there are laconic entries
which chart to some extent the battering he received in the way of offi-
cial disapproval. On 1 9 February he was asked to see Sir William Garstin
at 12 o’clock on the following day. 35 He does not record that this meeting
took place, but for 28 January he notes: ‘Sir William Garstin repeated the
above letter No.38 [Maspero’s official letter of 17 February], repri-
manding me in a severe manner.’ He notes again for 23 February: 36 ‘Saw
Lord Cromer, who said he considered that I was entirely in the wrong,
that I could have prevented the affair when I saw that the people were
excited instead of aggravating it, to set natives against Europeans was not
a proper thing to do, that he entirely agreed with Sir William Garstin’s
action in the whole matter, and that he can have nothing more to do with
it.’

The wretched Carter could scarcely have known what to do. He was
still just 30 years old; his future had seemed secure in the Antiquities
Service; he had substantial archaeological achievements behind him; he
was respected by his colleagues, trusted by his superior, Maspero. Now
he had seriously blotted his copy-book. His judgement, not as a profes-
sional archaeologist but as an official and a man, had been seriously
tested, and many thought that he had failed the test. Cromer was finished
with the matter. Was he equally finished with Carter? Had Carter totally
sacrificed the substantial good-will which he had enjoyed up to early
January 1905? Could he with dignity continue in the Service? Resignation
might be the only honourable course. Yet why should he behave honour-
ably when Iris frienas were telling him that he was not behaving as a

34 See p. 81 above.

35 G.I. Carter Papers V, 148, p. 31. The note on the actual meeting is written on the

verso of p. 31.

36 G.I. Carter papers V, 148, p. 33. verso.

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THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

gentleman? He was very hurt. ‘I may say that I feel the humiliation to an
exceeding extent. The treatment I have received after I have carried out
my duty which has always been my endeavour and after my services to
the department is inconceivable.’’ He was quite incapable of standing
back and viewing the affair with any impartiality. While nothing is known
about the company he kept in Cairo at the time, it may be concluded, on
the basis of his known way of life at other times, that he had few, if any,
intimate friends to whom he could turn and discuss matters. He was a
brooder, and the Saqqara affair provided ample material for brooding.

Nevertheless, some spirit of battle remained, and he worried away at
the authorities, through Maspero, trying to obtain a copy of the findings
of the enquiry. His insistence was again a source of vexation, because the
papers of the enquiry did not belong to the Ministry of Public Works of
which the Antiquities Service formed a part, but to the Legal Depart-
ment. His insistence in this matter implied a wish to take further action,
but in none of the surviving documents does he suggest what was in his
mind. He probably had not formulated any clear plan of action beyond
the idea that if he were to get to England he might be able to engage the
interest of well disposed people like Lord Amherst. Such an intention
would have horrified Maspero, and certainly convinced the authorities
that Carter had rightly been admonished and that he deserved no further
support.

Maspero was therefore distinctly worried when Carter, in the middle
of considering his move to Tanta, asked for three and a half months’
leave of absence from 14 March ‘owing to the strain of work during the
last 17 months’. 38 The request for leave, irregular for this time of the
year, was passed on to the Ministry with Maspero’s favourable recom-
mendation, but he felt obliged to write at length to Carter on 24
February, from Balliana in Upper Egypt. It is a remarkable letter from a
superior to a junior, from a very serious and respected scholar to one
who had yet to produce a substantial piece of scholarly research: 39

What I would say to you to-day refers to other matters. It is evident
that by going to England now, you intend beginning what you spoke
to me about, raising a debate about what happened at Saqqarah and
afterwards. You know my opinion about it, and I will repeat it very

37 Letter to Maspero of 21 February; G.I. Carter Papers V, 130.

38 Letter of 21 February; G. I. Carter Papers V, 129.

39 G.I. Carter Papers V, 132.

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HOWARD CARTER

briefly: you may make trouble for your countrymen in Egypt who
have decided about the matter, but you are certain in the end to have
the worse of it. I would advise you, not to renounce your way of
thinking, but to do nothing before you have taken a certain time for
reflection. I have given to Sir William as a reason for granting your
demand though it is not usual to grant it at this time of the year, that
you have been greatly shaken by the turn events have taken, and that I
do not consider you can recover your calmness and balance of mind
while you remain in Egypt. I hope that Ending yourself at home, far
from the scenes of your difficulties, and surrounded by friends who
are quite free from prejudice in the matter under consideration, you
will come if not completely to my way of thinking, but to a more defi-
nite idea of what was the position of the affairs; you will see, perhaps,
that what seemed to you a real humiliation was only a form of interna-
tional courtesy, which we were to accomplish together without more
shame for you than for me. For the transfer to Tantah it was intended
to take place very soon, and that being so it was considered as being
the equivalent of what you did not like to do and a very small mark of
displeasure for the trouble you gave to the Egyptian and British
Governments. If, even, you do not come to look at the matter with the
same eyes I look, at any rate do not hurry your decision, and take your
time; I am pleading for the whole of your life which is really in the
balance and the course of which may be completely altered by your
decision. Whatever that decision is to be, do not forget that I am only
activated by a real feeling of friendship that I have conceived for you,
and even if you do not remain with us, pray remember that I will try to
help you, as much as I can, without going against my duty as an Egyp-
tian employe.

Such an impassioned appeal could hardly have failed to make some
impression on Howard Carter’s obduracy, and indeed for the time being
he seems to have accepted the need for his transfer to Tanta with a prov-
ince of inspection much diminished in size. The order confirming the
changes in inspectorates and setting 8 March as the day when Carter
should take up what was now termed the Inspectorate of the North was
issued by Maspero on 4 March. On the 7th Carter reported that he had
found a house at Tanta suitable for office and home. It belonged to
Abdou Effendi, and could be rented for /IB 7 per month. As it was still
being put in order he sought permission to delay his move beyond the

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THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

8th to the 13th. Emile Brugsch gave the necessary permission, and it was
presumably on that later day that Carter left Cairo for Tanta. 4 " His leave
of three months was to begin on 20 March, and it must be assumed that
on that day or shortly afterwards, he left Tanta, Cairo and Egypt for what
was intended to be a period of recuperative holiday.

Maspero, however, could not rest in his efforts to retain Carter in die
Service, and he wrote to several friends of Carter’s outside Egypt in the
hope that they too might weigh in with letters of encouragement, urging
him not to resign. The pleas must have had some effect on Carter’s
thinking at this time; to know that his troubles were understood must in
itself have encouraged him, even if criticism was interlarded with exhorta-
tion. From Florence wrote Jeannette Buttles, a relation of Theodore
Davis, who had known Carter in Luxor and who would later include
Carter paintings in her book The Queens of Egypt, something of a best-seller
in its day. Her letter is not dated, but from internal evidence it may be
placed after the initial fuss and crisis, and to a time when his resignation
seemed likely. 41 She certainly had not fully understood what had
happened: ‘I have just heard with the greatest concern, of the difficulty
between you and the French gov. in Cairo. Of course you are in the right —
so clearly so, that you can afford to be generous.’ After some remarks
about a man’s duty, she continues: ‘Now there can be no doubt that your
services are of an unestimable value to the Antiquities department of
Egypt. Just now, you have what it most needs, to develop old Egypt
history and protect her treasures for future generations. You have above
other men the special talents most needed for the work.’ The balm of
these words was shortly followed by sterner stuff “What if you are
required to sacrifice the letter of your rights in the matter; that is better
than sacrificing the Service itself. Don’t be selfish!’ The themes and tone
are those of Theodore Davis’s earlier letter. What did the Amhersts think?

Lady Amherst had also heard at second hand of the troubles. Writing
from Valescure in the South of France to Percy Newberry on 5 May
1905, she first congratulates Newberry on the wonderful work he is to
do (presumably on the recent finds from Theodore Davis’s discovery of
the tomb of Yuia and Tjuiu), and then turns to the proper subject of
concern: 42

40 For transcripts of letters about the move to Tanta, see G. I. Carter Papers, V, 148, pp.

35-7.

41 G.I. Carter Papers V, 144.

42 G.I. Newberry Corr. 2/40.

133

HOWARD CARTER

I am glad Howard is going to help with the drawing - Lady William
had a most pathetic letter from M. Maspero today saying how
distressed he was to think of Carter’s leaving. He says he does not
know what he will do without him and how he trusts us all to try to
persuade him to see that there must be some ‘giving and taking’ and
hoping that he will return. I shall get Lady W to write to him and
quote Maspero ’s own words.

Maspero would have written to Lady William Cecil while Carter was
away from Egypt on leave. He had left in a distinctly dispirited mood
with resignation on his lips, if not finally in his mind. Would he ever
return? That must have been Maspero ’s concern. His hope that a change
of scene and meeting family and friends in England might help to soothe
the hurt seems to have been fulfilled, for the immediate future at least.
Carter wrote quite positively to Naville on two occasions during his time
away from Egypt. 4 ’ He was busy with matters Egyptological. The first
letter, from Carter’s club, the Constitutional in Northumberland Avenue,
with the date ‘21 Avril 1905’ added by Naville, speaks of their collabora-
tive work on the publication of Theodore Davis’s Tomb of HdtshopsM.
Carter talks of returning to Egypt on 5 May: ‘I go back so early so as to
begin the plates for the new find’ - a reference to the tomb of Yuia and
Tjuiu. He then says, ‘The Sakkara affair seems to be blowing over and
things coming to a better prospect - so all’s well at present.’ Two later
letters, both written from the Constitutional Club, on 3 and 4 May, reveal
Carter’s deep involvement at drat time with the Davis publication. In the
first of them, after discussing proofs, he tells Naville drat he will not be
able to look in at Geneva on his way back to Egypt because of his
‘wanting to get on with the plates of the new find’. This is not the letter
of a man who has lost his enthusiasm for his work, although the work
precisely mentioned did not result from any of his own activities as Chief
Inspector. He notes that his address will be Cairo. In view of the prob-
lems connected with his accommodation at Tanta, it was probably a
prudent suggestion.

The letter of the next day takes up the point overlooked in the
previous letter, that ‘Davis does not wish me to say anything about the
theory regarding the mummies of the Queen and Thothmes I [Tuth-
mosis] . So at his request I have cut it out. He evidently does not want to
hurt Maspero ’s feelings in any way — a little diplomacy perhaps. Maspero

43 Geneva MS. 2542, 89f. (21 April), 93f. (3 May), 91f. (4 May).

134

THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

seemed to me to agree with the idea.’ Carter then states his intention of
publishing a small paper on the problem in the Proceedings of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology, he would send it from Cairo to Naville before submit-
ting it for publication.

What was involved here was the problem of the mummified bodies of
the queen and her father which were absent from the quartzite
sarcophagi found by Carter in the tomb which he had cleared with
Davis’s financial backing in 1903-4. The difference of opinion between
interpretations of the inadequate evidence by, it seems, Maspero on the
one hand and Theodore Davis, Carter and Naville on the other is not
made explicit. It is, however, interesting to observe that Carter here is
taking a kind of initiative in deciding what may or may not be included in
this publication. It was no doubt the case that his presence in England
made liaison with the printers easier through him than through Davis in
the USA or Naville in Switzerland. Archibald and Constable had their
offices in the Haymarket in London, scarcely ten minutes’ walk from
Howard Carter’s club in Northumberland Avenue. Nevertheless it is
surprising to find him proclaiming his intention to publish a paper on the
mummy problem. It never appeared; perhaps it was not written, or
suppressed at Naville’s suggestion, or at the behest of Theodore Davis.
In the final publication Davis in his Introduction has a few words only to
say on the matter: 44

When the tomb of Thoutmosis I was discovered in 1899, it contained
his sarcophagus; we found in Hatshopsitu’s tomb not only her
sarcophagus, but one which she had made for her father Thoutmosis
I, as is told by an inscription thereon. Doubtless she had his body
transferred from his tomb to hers, and placed in the new sarcophagus,
where it probably remained until about 900 B.C., when, during some
great crisis in the affairs of Thebes, the priests, thinking it wise to
remove the bodies of many of the kings from their tombs in the valley,
and to hide them in a safer repository, moved the contents of
Hatshopsitu’s tomb to the tomb sometimes called the ‘cachette’, near
her temple at Deir al Bahari. The great find made by the Museum
Authorities in 1881 of the Royal Mummies which had been deposited
in the ‘cachette’, included the body of Thoutmosis I, an ornamental
wooden box bearing the names and titles of Hatshopsitu, and

44 T. M. Davis and others, The Tomb of Hatshopsitu (London, 1906), pp. xivf. On the
disputed history of this tomb, see p. 107 above.

135

HOWARD CARTER

containing a mummified liver, and also two female bodies stripped of
all covering and without coffins or inscriptions.

Therefore with some timidity, I trespass in the field of Egyptology
to the extent of expressing my conviction that Hatshopsitu’s body was
moved with that of Thoutmosis I from her tomb to the ‘cachette’, and
that the logic of the situation justifies the conclusion that one of the
two unidentified female bodies is that of the great Queen Hatshopsitu.

Sic transit gloria mundi.

It was, then, with such matters that Carter seems to have been
concerned during the later part of his leave. He had left Egypt on about
20 March, and he was returning on 5 May, in all — by the time he reached
Egypt - scarcely 7 weeks, far short of the three and a half months he had
at first requested, and the three months he was actually granted. His
return was not that of a man disillusioned and determined to make
mischief, but that of one who was devoted to his work and eager to get
on with it. It must be admitted that the work which drew him back was
nothing to do with the Delta Inspectorate; it was the prospect of painting
objects found in the tomb of Yuia and Tjuiu by Theodore Davis. For
such, no doubt, he would be paid separately by Davis. Yet the attraction
of painting fine material was for Carter a real draw, and the work had
undoubtedly been carried out by Davis for the Antiquities Service.

It is surprising to find that during the troubles of the Saqqara affair,
the duties of die Chief Inspector were properly pursued, if perhaps in a
somewhat moderated way. Maspero in his excursion to Upper Egypt did
not fail to pass on to Carter information which might require executive
action on Inis part. In his first letter from Kalabsha of 14 January, when
he asks Carter for a report on the affray, he ends: 45 ‘Petrie sends me a
report about the doings of the miners in Sinai. Immediately you have a
few days, I want you to go there and make an inspection.’ In his letter of
30 January Maspero is concerned principally with the publication of the
Aramaic papyri found at Aswan, a matter in which, as has earlier been
made clear, Carter was deeply involved along with Lady William Cecil,
Professor Sayce and Robert Mond. 46 .

So, a kind of professional life continued, as should indeed have been
proper. It was to this regime of inspection that Carter returned in May
1905. His first purpose was to establish a satisfactory headquarters for

45 G.I. Carter Papers V, 113.

46 G.I. Carter Papers V, 118. On the papyri, see p. 96 above.

136

THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

the Delta Inspectorate in Tanta. It will be remembered that he had nego-
tiated, before his departure on leave, the leasing of the house belonging
to Abdou Effendi, but had not apparently taken up quarters there
because redecoration and repairs were not complete. Knowing, presum-
ably, that little would have been accomplished during his absence, Carter
had planned first to operate from Cairo, perhaps returning to the apart-
ment which he had shared with Ernest Richmond and Ronald Storrs.
Tanta was about 80 miles north of Cairo by train, no great distance even
in the early years of the twentieth century, for it was on the direct railway
between Cairo and Alexandria and served by a reasonable train service.
But it was not what Howard Carter was used to.

Tanta was the capital of Gharbiya mudiriya , an important provincial
city, a centre of the cotton industry, busy with its own affairs, which were
certainly not those of immediate interest to Carter. like so many towns
in Egypt that had developed commercially and to a limited extent indus-
trially during the late nineteenth century, it had a superficially European
flavour in the business area and in those ‘suburbs’ where the European
officials, managers and businessmen lived. ‘French’, perhaps, would be a
better word to use than ‘European’, for most of the urban development
in Egypt had been greatly influenced by the kind of town planning and
domestic architecture transplanted from metropolitan France to the
French colonies in North Africa, and to the Eastern Mediterranean, to
Syria, to Lebanon and to Egypt. Tanta was a town in which an unambi-
tious small official could live reasonably well, but unstimulated by a
foreign community consisting largely of people of similar kind.

Howard Carter must surely have found it dull in the extreme. He was
accustomed to the lively archaeological circles of Luxor, the lavish hospi-
tality and intelligent company of the annual ‘residents’ who settled in
their dahabiyas or in the Luxor Hotel for weeks or even months every
season - high society and learned society. From an early age he had
shown a distinct predilection for a style of life far grander than he had
enjoyed at home, but which he had certainly tasted in Didlington Hall. It
had already been observed that he claimed in later life that he had inher-
ited a taste for luxury from his mother. 47 Equally, in Cairo he had been
exposed to a similar kind of social choice, but of far greater variety. In
Cairo there were also the intelligent, well educated civil servants like
Richmond and Storrs. He had the entree to society in which he might
meet not only the grand and noble visitors whom he had known in

47 So he states in his sketch An Account of Myself’, in G.I. Carter Notebook 15, p. 19.

137

HOWARD CARTER

Luxor, not just the Egyptologists who passed through the capital, but
also politicians and senior administrators whose interest in the ancient
world might be minimal or non-existent.

The flavour of a day in Cairo society in which Carter participated may
be savoured in an entry — one of many — in the diary of Mrs Andrews,
the relative and travelling companion of Theodore Davis 48

Friday, April 1 st [1 904] Jean, Carter and I went to the Zoo this morning
— on reaching home found Baron v. Bissing 49 and Mr. Weigall, who
stayed to lunch with us. A man from the bazaar brought over some
things for us to look at and I bought enough peridotes [sic] for a neck-
lace - which I will have mounted some day. Lady Oppenheim and
another English lady came up to the sitting room and played bridge
with Theo. and Carter.

It was then a kind of exile that had been imposed on Carter, and he
must have felt it as such. There is little evidence to suggest drat he
returned to Egypt in May determined to make a real effort to settle into
his new inspectorate. A lively correspondence between him and Maspero
in the weeks after his return reveals the difficulties he was having in
securing the repairs needed to make his accommodation in Tanta satis-
factory. He had in a sense been spoiled in Luxor by having a house
provided by the Antiquities Service; in Tanta he had to rent a property
and he found himself constrained by the rules governing such matters
for others in the government service. He could not spend money on
things which were covered by the official lease. On 15 July Maspero
wrote reminding him that ‘§9 of your contract is quite conclusive: 311
“Toutes les reparations necessaires seront a la charge du proprietaire.’”
He must not agree to expensive repairs which might rise to £E20 or
£E100, especially as the house might not remain his at the end of the
year - a truly prophetic comment. Perhaps a small sum of about £E10
could be allowed; but estimates should be obtained first. The chief
problem lay in the plumbing. At the end of this letter Maspero adds a
comment after his signature: ‘If there is a necessity for altering the fosse
[pit, possibly septic tank] itself, it may take months before the house is

48 Metropolitan Museum transcript for 1 904, p. 42.

49 A distinguished German Egyptologist for whom Carter had made paintings some
years previously; see p. 97 above.

50 The batch of letters dealing with the Tanta house are G.I. Carter Papers V, 142.

138

THE SAQQARA AFFAIR

ready: if it is only a cuvette [lavatory pan] or a watering apparatus it is quite
different and may be made rapidly.’ The matter was not quickly solved,
but Carter had moved in, perhaps even before receiving Maspero’s letter.
Writing to Naville on 21 July, 31 Carter gives his address as ‘Service des
Antiquites. Lower Egypt Office, Tantah’. He comments: ‘By the above
address you will see I am at last installed in Tantah - but have unfortu-
nately discovered the drains to be out of order so cannot get settled until
something is done.’

The situation must have been miserable: an alien environment where
most Europeans and many Egyptians in commerce and administration
probably spoke French, an absence of friends and acquaintances, no
inviting ancient monuments on his doorstep, a strong consciousness of
being rusticated and on probation, and, to top it all, bad drains. To make
matters worse, ‘We are having, and have had, a bad summer, the average
temperature being considerably above other years.’

51 Geneva MS. 2542, 95.

139

CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

In the exceptional heat of the summer of 1905 Tanta could have offered
little to refresh the spirit of a man like Howard Carter who was not given
to an optimistic view of life. His naturally depressive nature was never
enlivened by the kinds of enthusiastic behaviour which would have been
proper for someone in his early thirties. In his biographical sketches he
emphasized his sickly childhood, and from his early days in Egypt he
rarely enjoyed the buoyant good health which would surely have helped
him to overcome his melancholic disposition. His was an embattled
spirit, expecting the worst to happen, and when it did not happen, unable
or unwilling to enjoy the relief. Even at the time of his greatest triumph,
there seems to have been a note of restraint in his euphoria. Even then
he was not on the top of form. Minnie Burton, wife of Harry Burton,
the photographer of the Metropolitan Museum’s Egyptian Expedition,
noted in her diary for the 11 December 1922 (written in Cairo): ‘After
dinner with the Bernards as usual, also Mr. Carter, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr.
Percy White. All of us with bad colds.’ The adrenalin was clearly not
working as it should have done at such a stimulating time.

The tension imposed by the events of the early months of 1905 had
undoubtedly lowered Carter’s health as well as his spirits. He had fled to
Mena House at the end of January to try to rid himself of the ‘very bad
cold’ he had taken twice in that month. He asked for extended leave of
absence because of the strain he had endured. Later in the summer he
was to fall ill again. The nature of the illness is not made clear in a letter
Maspero wrote to him on 8 October; but Carter’s superior was

1 The Burtons had their home in Florence, where Minnie’s parents (Lt-Col. and Mrs
William Morton Duckett) also lived in retirement. One volume of her diaries, covering
1922 to 1926, is in the possession of Mrs Rosalind Berwald.

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CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

concerned enough to comment : 2 3 ‘I heard from Brugsch that you had
been ill. You remember what I told you before I left about your general
looks: if, when I come back, that is to say in three weeks, you do not feel
better, we will try to arrange matters for a new and serious leave.’

Tanta in October could have provided Carter with an entertainment
which would surely have interested him, if he had been well enough to
attend. Every year in that month the great tnoulid of El-Sayyed Ahmed el-
Bedawi took place in and around the mosque in which he was buried,
and on a great open space just outside the town. EhBedawi, the much
revered local Muslim saint, who came from Fez in Morocco in the thir-
teenth century and setded in Tanta after his pilgrimage to Mecca, had
acquired in his lifetime an enviable reputation for pious works; after his
death and burial in Tanta he had assumed a superior position among the
saintly worthies of Islam in Egypt. Huge crowds attended this moulid or
sacred celebration, said at one time to number even more than made the
pilgrimage to Mecca. ’ The moulids of local saints or holy men resembled
only superficially the celebrations in Catholic countries in honour of the
Christian saints of particular localities. There were ceremonies centred
around the mosque dedicated to or memorializing the holy individual;
but the essence of the moulid . , certainly as far as the people of the locality
were concerned, lay in the fair which coincided with the occasion. Such
fairs were ‘medieval’ in character, essentially religious celebrations, but
actually secular circuses, occasions when the drab lives of the Egyptian
fellahin might be enlivened by spectacle, mystery, entertainment, food and
drink; occasions when family ceremonies like circumcisions could be
conveniently and expertly carried out. Tents and booths covered the
broad area reserved for the event; the place was alive with bustling
humanity throughout the night; it was a time for unrestrained enjoyment,
a kind of Mardi Gras without the stimulus of strong drink. The tnoulid of
El-Sayyed Ahmed el-Bedawi lasted a full week, and could scarcely have
been missed by Howard Carter, if he had been in town; but no letter has
survived in which he makes mention of the celebrations.

Unhappily October was to be dominated by other considerations
which were to lead to his departure from Tanta and from office. Yet at
the same time he had the opportunity for professional rehabilitation
which would surely have led to stability in his official position and a
revival of his injured pride. In August he had been required to exercise

2 In a batch of letters, G.I. Carter Papers V, 142.

3 See J. W. McPherson, The Moulids of Egypt (Cairo, 1941), pp. 285ff.

141

HOWARD CARTER

his official function in a matter of considerable importance. Early in the
month a party of sebbakhin , farmers digging the decayed mud-brick
detritus of the ancient town-mound of Tukh el-Qaramus about 25 miles
north of Cairo, discovered a cache of precious temple equipment,
including a large silver Greek bowl, a number of incense-burners in
Egyptian style and a bronze royal head. A few days later an even more
precious cache of gold jewellery, silver vessels and gold and silver coins
was uncovered. The second discovery was made when one of the
farmers’ donkeys put its hoof through the pottery vessel containing
some of the treasure. Swift action by the local civil authorities brought
Carter to Tukh, and he was able to retrieve a large part of what had been
found. It was a substantial coup for the Antiquities Service and was to
provide the Cairo Museum with a notable acquisition. Carter’s personal
records contain not a hint of this success, 5 yet it was thought by Maspero
at least to herald the transition of Carter from recent discomfiture to the
promise of a successful inspectorate in the Delta.

Maspero was at the time on leave in France, but Brugsch wrote to tell
him of the discovery, sending photographs of the best pieces. He was
delighted: 6 ‘They are splendid some of them, and the whole is very valu-
able. I told him [Brugsch] to give £E400 to be distributed among the
finders as a reward, and I hope that the prospect of getting money from
us will encourage them to be honest.’ He asks Carter to send him a
report that he can present to the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres. ‘It is a good thing for you that you were able to prevent it from
falling into the hands of the Antiquities dealers. I will insist on it in the
Comite d’Archeologie and in conversation with Sir William Garstin. It
must give you heart to do in the Delta what you did so well in Upper
Egypt. Of course the ways are not the same, nor is the work so inter-
esting, but the results are good, if they are different, and you can enrich
the Museum and the Service more than you did when you were in
Thebes.’

Maspero’s last remark encapsulates a number of points about archae-
ology in the Delta region which he did not have to explain in detail to

4 The find is reported in the Egyptian Gazette of 7 August, p. 3. See also Maspero’s note
in Rapports sur la marche du Service des A.ntiquites de 1899 a 1910 (Cairo, 1912), p. 182.

5 Newberry in his Diary (PEN/GI/47) records some of Carter’s movements at this
time: 16 Aug. he and Newberry met in the Cairo Museum and lunched and dined
together; 17 Aug. Newberry went to Tanta and returned on the 18th; on 20th Carter
dined with Newberry in Shepheard’s Hotel.

6 A letter dated 28 August in a batch, G.I. Carter Papers V, 142.

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CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

Carter: that the area was peppered with archaeological sites of great
antiquity and uncertain identification; that these sites were for most part
town mounds covering extensive acreages, each consisting of many
layers of mud-brick structures with few monumental buildings of stone;
that such mounds were open to the ravages of the sebbakhin, who mined
the mud-brick ( sebakh ) for its fertilizing properties on the land; that there
was very little practical surveillance of these sites by representatives of
the Antiquities Service. Important finds had been made in the past by
the sebbakhin , but rarely were the points of discovery known or the extent
of the finds established; archaeological information about the exact
provenances of such fortuitous treasure-troves could not be retrieved, or
even expected. Few archaeologists working in Egypt at this time consid-
ered precision in recording a matter of importance. It may be recalled
that Howard Carter’s own search for the chambers of carbonized papyri
at Tell Timai el-Amdid in 1893 was frustrated chiefly by the lack of
precise information on their location, even though they had been visited
and seen in the previous year by Edouard Naville.

Caches of gold and silver objects were particularly vulnerable to theft
and rapid dispersal; such objects were intrinsically valuable and could be
recognized as such by simple peasants. Swift action by the authorities as
soon as a discovery was signalled (which seems to have been the case at
Tukh el-Qaramus), might lead to a successful outcome. It was to happen
again a few months later when an even more remarkable group of
objects in precious materials was unearthed at Bubastis during work on a
railway line. 7 On that occasion again the discovery was in two parts, from
the first of which many of the objects were purloined by the workmen;
only some were retrieved by C. C. Edgar and his assistants in the Antiq-
uities Service. The second part of the discovery was made by the
workmen of the Service.

The task facing the Chief Inspector was impossible to carry out
without a broad network of junior inspectors and site guards (ghaffirs ),
and an established system of liaison with local authorities throughout the
six mudiriyas of the Delta. Maspero could see Howard Carter as the man
to set up the network and secure the necessary local contacts. He had
good reason to believe that Carter would succeed. His spoken Arabic
was good, he had the ability to talk freely and without condescension to
villagers - the potential sebbakhin — who might never have seen a Euro-
pean before. He had done much the same in a relatively limited area in

7 See note in E.E.F. A.rch. Rep. 1906—1907 , pp. 29£

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HOWARD CARTER

Luxor; here was his chance to operate on a much larger scale. Sadly there
is no evidence that Carter ever contemplated rising to the challenge. It
may even have been the case that the success of Tukh eLQaramus
persuaded him of the impossibility of his task in view of the lack of
resources in money and man-power at his disposal, the vast area to be
covered and the difficulty of travel in a part of Egypt where routes ran
fan-wise north from Cairo, but rarely east-to-west. In Upper Egypt you
travelled up the Nile or down the Nile, by river or by train; no site was
distant from these highways by more than a few miles. It was very
different in the Delta, much of which remained archaeologically terra
incognita. Further, there was also the peninsula of Sinai in which a small
army could disappear without trace.

The Tukh treasure seems not to have sparked in Carter any flame of
interest. There is no evidence that he ever sent Maspero the report that
had been requested. In his letter to Carter of 8 October, written from
Paris, and pardy quoted earlier, Maspero states: ‘Edgar sent me notes
which enabled me to give the Academie informations about the various
pieces of plate and jewellery you found at Tukh. I had the great pleasure
to be able to tell how much we owe to your activity and energy.’ It was C.
C. Edgar, Carter’s successor in the Lower Egyptian inspectorate, who
would investigate the site further and find some additional, but less
striking, objects in the area of the chance discoveries of the sebbakhin.

Anticipating Maspero ’s suggestion of a ‘new and serious leave’, Carter
had taken a four weeks’ holiday from 12 September and travelled to
Cyprus with an acquaintance, Colonel Griffith, who wanted to visit the
island to purchase mules for the Sudan. This break clearly did much to
enable Carter to get over his summer’s illness and the unpleasantness of
the humid conditions which characterized the months of July to
September in the Delta. Cyprus was new to him and he wrote with real
pleasure of all that he saw and did while he was there. For once (at least
as far as surviving documents reveal) he addressed a really long letter to
his mother, illustrated with his own photographs, and couched in the
somewhat self-consciously overblown style that he affected when he
wrote at ease and without hurry. 8 The flavour is well conveyed by this
account of his impressions on walking on his first day at a rest camp on
Mount Troodos:

8 This letter is in the possession of Jonathan Carter.

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CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

The following morning I awoke to find in Troodos a glorious peace —
the camp dotted under the pine trees with magnificent scenery. The
whole island stretched below surrounded by the sea: both skye [sit\
and sea seemed to be one, the horizon lost in mist. The atmosphere
reeking with the scent of pines and tiny wild pinks. Amongst the trees
chaffinches, tits, jays, and many other birds filling the air with their
chatter and only broken by the caw of the raven. Buzzing around the
tents the humming-bee moth as common as the white butterfly at
home.

This letter was written from Tanta on 6 October (a Friday), and he
remarks that he ‘came back to harness on Monday’. There is no hint here
that he was about to tender his resignation from the Service.

Maspero was still in Paris on 8 October, and he wrote in his letter of
that day that he would be in Egypt in three weeks, that is about the end
of the month. He must have changed his plans soon afterwards, perhaps
on hearing what Carter might be intending to do. On 21 October the
Chief Inspector of Lower Egypt wrote formally from Tanta to the
Director-General in Cairo 9

Sir

Owing to the late treatment I have received and the difficulties I
now find while endeavouring to carry out my duties as Inspector in
Chief in Lower Egypt in the Service des Antiquites, I beg herewith to
submit my resignation.

Believe me
Sir

Yours faithfully

Howard Carter

N.B.

Will you kindly delegate a representative of the Service des Antiquites
to whom I can hand over all the papers, archives, office and office
materials, and working materials that have been placed under my
charge by the Service des Antiquites.

H.C.

9 Carter’s fair copy in G.I. Carter Papers, V, 147.

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HOWARD CARTER

The crisis seems to have come to a head with the renewal of problems
over his Tanta quarters, not the drains on this occasion but the terms on
which the leasing of the property had to be effected. From the very
outset of his move to Tanta the matter of the lease and the rent had
caused difficulties. Carter seemed incapable of agreeing to terms which
were in fact far more favourable than those commonly accepted by other
government servants. In an attempt to persuade him to withdraw the
notice of resignation, Maspero saw him on Thursday 26 October. He
had perhaps found the notice waiting for his return from France a few
days earlier. From a letter which followed up this meeting it may be
concluded that litde progress was made. Once again Maspero wrote to
Carter persuasively and at length: 111

I saw M. Webb and spoke with him. There is no possibility of doing
anything more than what has been done already. It is only by a special
forbearance that our Chief Inspectors are permitted to have houses at
the expense of the Service and he quoted me a case in the Irrigation
department where the Inspector has been recently charged with the
frais [expenses] incurred for his lodging. Of course I have no time to
look closely into the details, but it appears to me that we could not do
any good by insisting on it and that the only result would an intimation
from the Finances to cease giving the Chief Inspectors indemnities for
lodgings, which would be a real loss for you and for Lefebvre, Weigall
having the house we built last year.

The question remains therefore in the same position it had when I
saw you on Thursday. I think it would be better for you to accept the
facts as they are and to make the best of a bad bargain. Whatever your
final decision turns out to be, there is no hurry about it and you may
take time to consider it quietly. Do not be rash, since there is no neces-
sity for you to decide one day in preference to all other days. I can
understand that you wish to leave us, since your heart is no more in
the business as it was when we began to work together, but it seems to
me that you might remain as long as [=until] you have found another
post which would give you more satisfaction. You know that I am
speaking to you my impression of the matter as to a friend and I would
like you to act accordingly, for we would be really sorry to lose you
after so many years of common activity.

10 In the batch of letters, G.I. Carter Papers V, 142.

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CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

Why did Maspero take such trouble over someone who had so clearly
lost sympathy with government service and interest in his job? He
undoubtedly saw in Carter a man of unusual talent who unfortunately
would not allow his humours to submit to his intelligence; a man
possessed of the ability to achieve the kinds of goal that Maspero had set
for the Service he had nurtured over two terms of appointment. Carter
loved Egypt, respected its people, understood the purposes of the
foreigners who wished to work archaeologically there, was competent in
excavation, excellent in caring for the monuments, a first-class artist, a
practical engineer, seemingly a good administrator. He was quicksilver to
the stolid Quibell; a tower of strength against the uncertain Weigall. Lefe-
bvre was a better scholar, as was Edgar, but the former lacked the
personality and the latter the field ability which distinguished Carter. He
was worth the £E400 which the Chief Inspectors were paid. How could
he not be sensible and stay? To attempt to divert Carter from resigning
was the least that Maspero could do. But in Carter’s cussed mood there
could be no diverting him.

On Saturday 4 November 1905 the Egyptian Gazette announced: 11 ‘Mr.
Howard Carter has resigned his inspectorship under the Antiquities
Service.’

On Thursday 14 December 1905 the Egyptian Gasgtte announced: ‘The
Earl and Countess of Carnarvon are to spend a few weeks in Egypt in
the New Year, and will leave Marseilles on January 12.’

On Thursday 21 December 1905 the same newspaper announced
Edgar’s appointment as Inspector in Chief to the Antiquities Depart-
ment at £E400 a year from 1 December.

It would be quite improper to speculate on Carter’s feelings at this
turning point in his life. He was not one given to pouring out his
emotions in letters to such friends as he had. His style was essentially
laconic; in personal matters he was restrained and terse to the point of
seeming to be unmoved. Both in enthusiasms and in disappointments he
appeared, on paper at least, to be wholly contained. His bitter comments
to Maspero about his treatment over the Saqqara affair were exceptional,
and certainly were brought about by what he would have considered to
be extreme provocation. His departure now from the Antiquities Service
was at his own instigation. It was presumably what he wanted, unless he
had cherished the hope of complete surrender to his demands over his

1 1 The three announcements are all placed under ‘Personal and Social’, in each case on
p. 3 of the issue.

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HOWARD CARTER

conditions of work and accommodation at Tanta. This last, however,
seems very unlikely. Nevertheless, his departure brought brutally to an
end the career in the Antiquities Service which he had probably seen as
containing the promise of a lifetime’s practice of archaeology.

He had come north from Luxor with such expectations. Highly
regarded by Maspero, he may even have been selected for a task which
might have seemed of unusual responsibility for an official of relatively
small experience. Writing to Miss Amherst a year earlier, just as he was
taking up his northern inspectorate, he confided to her some surprising
information: 12 Would you tell Lord Amherst a secret — the Government
has entrusted to me to make the solution of the Antiquity Law for this
country - I am so proud, but it must not be known at present.’ The truth
of this ‘secret’ cannot now be established. It could have represented a
touch of that romancing to which Carter was inclined throughout his life;
it might just have been the case that he had been invited with the other
Chief Inspectors to submit his views concerning a review of die law.
Presumably he forfeited this opportunity after the events of Saqqara on
Sunday 8 January 1905.

It is from more certain ground that some speculation may be enter-
tained on what he envisaged for the future. His financial assets were
probably minimal. Although his annual salary was £E400, a reasonably
substantial emolument for the early twentieth century, he may have saved
little; subsequent events suggest that he had little in the way of a cushion
to protect him from adversities. He had, on the other hand, considerable
personal talents on which better prospects could be built. He was an
experienced excavator with notable successes to his credit; he was an
artist of recognized merit whose work was sought by discriminating visi-
tors to Egypt. He had also a wide acquaintance with influential people
who might use his services as a superior guide to the monuments, or
recommend him to others for the same purpose — he could be expected
to behave in a gentlemanly way, displaying none of the importunate
habits of most local dragomans.

First, however, he must leave Tanta and make the break with his
former way of life. On Friday 24 November 1905 Emma Andrews
wrote: 13 ‘Saw much of Mr. Carter — who has at last resigned from the
Service des Antiquites. I was very glad to hear it. Jean and I drove out to
the country to the pretty house he has taken, and had tea with him. He is

12 Letter of 2 December 1904, The Amherst Letters in the possession of Dr Bob Brier.

13 Metropolitan Museum transcript, 1905, p. 109.

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CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

going to devote himself to painting - a thing he should have done years
ago.’ Her remarks on Carter are strange but interesting. They almost
certainly reflect the views of Theodore Davis, with whom she had trav-
elled in Egypt for many seasons. They may also reflect the views of
others in the transient foreign community which came to Egypt every
winter, resuming among themselves a kind of social activity which would
not necessarily have extended to Europe and America in the summer. In
such society Howard Carter may well have been thought to have let the
side down. Excellent though he might be in helping to organize an exca-
vation for someone like Theodore Davis in the Valley of the Kings, he
was not one to allow the man who paid the piper to call the tune. That he
might be Chief Inspector of Antiquities in Upper Egypt was one thing;
that he should in effect dictate how the work might be carried out was
quite another thing.

Theodore Davis was not a man willingly to be directed in the way he
should act, and there were undoubtedly times when he found Carter’s
general overseeing of his activities in Thebes interfering and irksome.
Things became much easier with Carter’s move to the north, when
supervision at Thebes passed to Quibell, and from late 1 905 to Arthur
Weigall. It remained for Davis to discover that one Chief Inspector of
the Antiquities Service might be just as tiresome as any other. Carter, of
course, was exceptionally stubborn, and in matters archaeological not
one to defer to a rich amateur. It is not unlikely, therefore, that in the
after-dinner talk on the Bedaivin, Davis’s dahabiya, and at the polite tables
of Cairo, Carter’s move to the Delta was at first greeted as a happy
removal of an awkward agent of authority. His subsequent behaviour in
the Saqqara affair revealed him as not quite the gentleman he had hoped
to be. Perhaps, after all, he was not the right person to be a Chief
Inspector. On the other hand, he did paint well. Did he not come to
Egypt first as an artist? Were not his water-colours eagerly sought? Was
he not an ideal archaeological artist who need never be lacking for a job?
Was it not quite proper, therefore, that he should now turn to painting to
make his living?

It is difficult to reconstruct the course of Carter’s life in the months
that followed his resignation. He did not, apparently, remain long in his
‘pretty little house’ not far from Cairo. By February he was back tempo-
rarily in Luxor, undoubtedly the place, where he felt most at home. Here
he could more easily see the Europeans and Americans from whom he
could expect best to make some kind of a living. From the Turf Club in

149

HOWARD CARTER

Cairo he wrote on 23 February 1906 to Lady Amherst. 14 Beginning with
suggestions on how her book A Sketch of Egyptian History might be
promoted in Cairo, he continues: ‘I am having a very crowded winter, but
not many nice people in proportion. I have just come from Luxor after a
sojourn of two weeks.’ By happy chance, entries in the Visitors Book
kept at Deir el-Bahri by the Egypt Exploration Fund expedition give
some idea of the kind of person whom Carter accompanied at Thebes at
this time. Under the date Feb. 5, 1905 (clearly an error for 1906, as adja-
cent entries make certain), the following names are written in auto-
graph 15

M. Thornburgh Cropper
5 Gloucester Terrace
Regent Park, London
Ian Whyte, 7 Charlotte Sq. Edinburgh
Helen K. Gould, New York
Howard Carter, Cairo
Frank Jay Gould, N. York
Percy Newberry, Liverpool University
Prince Louis de’Orleans
Prince Antoine d’Orleans

(and two others whose names are not clear, but who probably
belonged to the entourage of Prince Louis)

It seems very probable that Carter, perhaps with Newberry as well, was
acting the superior dragoman to some or all of the others whose names
occur for that day.

The mythology of Egyptology preserves a story that during his time in
the uncertain life of the free-lance, Howard Carter returned to Luxor
with very little money and in no position to set himself up in a suitable
home either in Luxor town or on the West Bank where he had always
lived. In this state of penury he was, it is said, taken in by an Egyptian of
Qurna, a former associate in the Antiquities Service. In 1940 Professor

14 The Amherst Letters in the possession of Dr Bob Brier. Lady Amherst’s book had
been published by Methuen in 1904; its full tide was Sketch of Egyptian History, from the
earliest times to the present day. Carter had helped with the illustrative material, and felt an
obligation towards Lady Amherst to help in promoting the book.

15 The visitors’ book is preserved in the Egyptian Department of the Royal Ontario
Museum, Toronto; it was brought to my attention by John Larson. I am grateful to Dr
Nicholas Millett of the Museum for permission to publish this extract.

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CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

John Wilson, Director of the Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago, in answering a series of questions from Charles Breasted, son
of James H. Breasted, reported what could be remembered in this matter
by Dr Harold Nelson, the Director of Chicago House in Luxor. 16 Nelson
recalled that James Breasted had said that the Egyptian who had shel-
tered Carter was not a member of the notorious tomb-robbing family of
Abd er- Rasul (as Charles Breasted had suggested), but ‘the former sheikh
of the guards at the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings who had held that
post at the time when the tomb of Amenhotep II was robbed in 1901 . . .
and although this man had been on his weekly holiday when the tomb
was allegedly rifled, Carter held that he had been responsible and had
him dismissed. This man’s name does not appear clearly in any written
material known to me.’

A similar tale was told by Charles Wilkinson who had come to work in
Luxor for the Metropolitan Museum’s Egyptian Expedition in 1920. 17
He knew Carter in the quieter times before the discovery of
Tutankhamun’s tomb, and became an associate of his subsequently
through their common links with the Metropolitan Museum. Beyond
this reported memory of Charles Wilkinson, and that of James Breasted
(by way of Harold Nelson), there is very little else that is known of this
low point in Howard Carter’s life. It is possible that a very temporary
billet was provided in the generous and typically Egyptian manner by the
former chief ghaffir until Carter could find somewhere convenient and
inexpensive to live. It is unlikely that such an interlude lasted long, for
there was work for Carter to do and he would need space to paint and
draw. Furthermore, it is not at all likely that his acquaintances would have
tolerated indefinitely such an arrangement for an Englishman and
former respected government official. Carter’s acceptance of such hospi-
tality would have been seen as ‘going native’. Even if it had lasted but a
month, or even a few days, it would have shocked, and would have
remained in the memories of the foreign community as strongly as if he
had lived thus for the whole period of his free-lance activity.

This interlude of informal employment was to last, it seems, until the
early months of 1909, a full three years — by no means as long as some

16 O.I. Director’s Office Archives. Letter of John Wilson to Charles Breasted of 28
November 1940. The words quoted are as reported by Wilson and not a direct quota-
tion of Nelson. For the episode of the robbing of the tomb of Amenophis II, see
above, pp. 85f.

17 Personal communication by Cyril Aldred.

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HOWARD CARTER

have claimed, but certainly a tedious period for Carter. His principal
activity, if one may judge from published archaeological works begun or
completed in these years, was painting, and his services seem to have
been in regular demand. The most enduring work was carried out for
Theodore Davis who undoubtedly did his best to put commissions in
Carter’s way, even when the response from Carter may have been slow
and even ungracious.

Whether Davis could be classified as a patron is difficult to determine.
His association with Carter went back to the days when he first obtained
permission to excavate in the Valley of the Kings. From the outset the
relationship was seen differently from the two sides. It should not have
been so, because Carter, who supervised the early excavations, was the
representative of the Antiquities Service and distinctly the specialist in
charge. Davis, the man who paid the bills and took most of the credit, no
doubt regarded Carter as working for him. There could scarcely be a
harmonious partnership while roles were observed so differently, and the
tensions, misunderstandings and awkwardness that occurred have
already been described. The position would become even more compli-
cated after Carter’s move to the Delta and return to Thebes.

It is surprising that there was no greater coolness between Carter and
Davis after the very forthright letter the latter had written in the painful
days of the Saqqara affair; yet Carter in this matter saw, no doubt, that he
could expect work from Davis and had therefore to keep on reasonably
good terms. Mrs. Andrews notes in her diary for 17 February 1907: 18

Theo. was in Luxor this A.M. and Carter told him of various small and
precious things which had been shown him by a native which had
been stolen from Tyi’s tomb. The man had told Carter that Mr. Davis
could have them all for £400 . . . provided no attempt at arrest was
made! These fellows are difficult to deal with. Theo. told Carter if the
men would produce everything they had, and would show them, he
might consider a price and promise no arrest to be made. Their prac-
tice is to mass together a lot of valuable things on such an occasion,
with what has been stolen from a late find, and try to get a big price
for all. Later in the day Theo. went into Abd el-Hamed’s and Ali’s
shops on the river, and the latter handed him several small objects
from the tomb — some gold ‘neferts’ from the necklace, carnelian lotus
flowers, and a lovely bit of gold and enamel from a necklace — only

18 Metropolitan Museum transcript, 1907, p. 29.

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CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

one of which we have — and it is marked No. 17 in hieroglyphic char-
acters. Ali would not take anything for these — among them one
bearing Aten’s cartouche. It is humiliating to find that thieves have
been among your trusted workmen — they have such chance in sifting
debris, to hide a valuable tiring in their loose clothes.

The naivety of attitude displayed in this entry is characteristic of those
who believe fondly that one’s own employees, if treated reasonably well,
will respond generously and honestly. The Egyptian workmen used by
Davis - probably engaged by his foreman ireis) — came from the villages
in and around the Theban Necropolis on the western side of the Nile at
Luxor. Tomb-robbing was part of their heritage, and they felt — not
without some primitive justice — that the fruits of the earth — their earth
— the antiquities in the tombs, were there for their taking. From the early
years of the nineteenth century, when the first European travellers came
to Egypt and began to collect antiquities, it had become clear to the
Qurnawis (the name used rather generally for the modern inhabitants of
the Theban Necropolis) that the products of the tombs, among which
they lived, were more valuable than they had ever formerly conceived.
Why, therefore, should a poor workman on Theodore Davis’s excava-
tions, paid a few piastres a day, neglect the opportunity to share in the
good fortune of a discovery; small portable objects were made for slip-
ping into the folds of one’s head-scarf otgalabiycfi

Informal trade in antiquities had always in modern times been a
surreptitious activity, even before the establishment of the Antiquities
Service and the official regulation of antiquities dealing. Belzoni had
found it so in the early days: 19 things had not changed. A man with
something good to sell might belong to a syndicate of informal excava-
tors with some agreement to share costs and profits; if he found some
good pieces on his own he would at first attempt to find a buyer without
informing his fellows. Secrecy at the individual and at the syndicate level
was very important, for the well established dealers with businesses in
Luxor town had ways of persuading the small operators to pass on their
discoveries at low prices.

Theodore Davis was a prime victim for exploitation. His excavations
in the Valley of the Kings had become extensions of the social round on

19 See G.-B. Belzoni, Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries ... in Egvpt and Nubia
(London, 1820), 1, pp. 288f£; also, T. G. H. James, Ancient Egypt. The Eand and itsEegacy
(London, 1988), p. 150.

153

HOWARD CARTER

his dahabija. Arthur Weigall, the Chief Inspector at Luxor, kept only a
very general eye on the work which was ostensibly in the charge of
Edward Ayrton. 2 " The situation had changed since Howard Carter was
Chief Inspector and in charge of the Davis excavations. Weigall, whose
style and interests were distinctive, and unlike those of Carter, felt unable
to exercise as much control over Davis’s work as he might have wished.
In a letter to Francis LI. Griffith, written from Lancing in Sussex and
dated only ‘October T (probably in 1908 on internal evidence), he
follows up a diatribe on Carnarvon with an only slightly more restrained
attack on Davis: 21

With regard to Horemheb I purposely did not say much about it,
because my position is such a very delicate one in regard to Davis. I
insist on the formality of supervising his work on behalf of the Govt.,
simply to prevent him thinking himself an ordinary digger, which
would lead to obvious abuse. Davis materially dislikes this, and though
we are good friends, I find it very difficult to prevent him running the
Tombs of the Kings as a social affair. Ayrton behaves as badly as he
could while there, being entirely under Davis’s thumb; and also on his
own account resenting my appearances on what he considered his
own field. I so sympathize with him in this that I need not say any
more!

Weigall had good reason to feel disgruntled. Davis had received the
concession to work in the Valley of the Kings on special terms. He was
effectively working on behalf of the Antiquities Service, and therefore
not, in Weigall’s words, ‘an ordinary digger’. But his years of activity had
proved to be unusually successful, with the discovery of increasingly
important tombs, most notably that of Yuia and Tjuiu, and the one
known as the tomb of Queen Tiye. Success of this kind breeds confi-
dence in one’s own capacities and judgements, and it is not surprising
that Davis felt himself to be independendy competent, and unwilling to
suffer easily the interventions of a patently contemptuous Weigall.

20 Edward Russell Ayrton had worked with Petrie at Abydos and with Naville and Hall at
Deir el-Bahri. His promising archaeological career was cut short by his accidental
death in Ceylon in 1914.

21 G. I. Griffith letter 362; see further p. 160 below; also A. E. P. Weigall, The Life and
Times of Akhnaton, Pharaoh of Egypt (London, 1922), p. xivf. The tomb of Horemheb
was found on 25 February 1908.

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CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

Howard Carter, however, was a man of a very different temper, and he
was still in a position to be helpful when it came to the matter of thefts
from excavations. Throughout his career he took trouble to get to know
the inhabitants of the Theban Necropolis, and indeed of anywhere else
his work might take him. Thebes was his old familiar field, and he clearly
retained access to sources of information unavailable to the grand, like
Davis, or even the supercilious, like Weigall. The excavation of the so-
called tomb of Tiye had been a notably mismanaged operation from the
start, and the inadequacy of the work, compounded by a very indifferent
publication, has provided archaeologists with ample scope for interpreta-
tion and reinterpretation ever since. 22 It is not surprising that material
from the tomb passed into the hands of Luxor dealers, or that Carter was
the one to hear about them.

Earlier, in 1905, Carter had been asked by Davis to make paintings of
some of the finest objects found in the tomb of Yuia and Tjuiu, the
parents of Queen Tiye, favourite wife of King Amenophis III. The
discovery had been spectacular, and the objects from this virtually undis-
turbed sepulchre represented easily the finest group of grave-goods to
enter the Cairo Museum before the overwhelming paraphernalia of
Tutankhamun’s tomb. Carter, it will be recalled, returned to Egypt in
June 1905, looking forward in particular to executing this commission
for Davis. Most of what Davis required was completed satisfactorily in
Thebes before the antiquities were taken down to Cairo. There remained,
however, the finest of the coffins which had been taken to Cairo. Davis
was quite determined to have Carter paint it, and did all he could to
ensure that he might have access to it in the galleries of the museum. It
would seem that Carter had been unable to carry out the work in the
galleries while visitors were allowed into the museum.

During the summer of 1 906 Carter was able to return to Britain, and
letters to Percy Newberry, addressed from Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire,
suggest that he was taking advantage of hospitality offered by visitors he
had shown around in Egypt. 2 ’ Davis pursued him, from his summer
home in Newport, Rhode Island. Writing to Newberry on 21 July, he

22 The original Davis publication, The Tomb of Queen Tiyi (London, 1910), included an
historical essay by Maspero. The tomb, known archaeologically as KV 55, has been
studied by Martha Bell, ‘An Armchair Excavation of KV 55’ in J^A.ILC.E. 27 (1990),
pp. 97f£ See also, C. N. Reeves, The Valley of the Kings (London, 1990), pp. 42ff; A.
Dodson, ‘King’s Valley Tomb 55 and the fates of the Amarna Kings’, in A.marna
Vetters 3 (1994), pp. 92-103.

23 Two letters of 5 and 7 September in G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/23 and 8/24.

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HOWARD CARTER

showed surprise that even he had been unable to get permission for
Carter to work. 24 It seems that Carter was reluctant to work because the
coffin could not easily be moved. In a further letter to Newberry, Davis
encloses a copy of a letter to Carter conveying the bad news about the
state of the coffin. Maspero had written to say, ‘It is really impossible to
move the lid of the coffin and stand it on its feet . . . the wood is so dry
that the gold foil and the enamels hardly keep on it. Even in its present
position, with the glass-case on, flakes of gold fall from it. If it were taken
out, raised in such a manner that the whole weight should bear on the
feet, we could not answer for the consequences: perhaps half the orna-
mentations would be spoilt.’ Maspero’s solution was to suggest that ‘if
Carter would agree to paint it laying on its back, we would have only to
take away the glass . . . ’ Davis continues in his letter to Carter, ‘can you
paint it lying in the box if the glass is taken off? As you know, I must have
it painted, as it is quite the most beautiful and impressive of the coffins.

Subsequently a painting of the upper part of the coffin was carried
out, and the finished volume, The Tomb of louiya and Touiyou, was
published in the summer of 1907, containing in all 14 plates painted by
Carter. He was not at all pleased at the result: 2 ’’ “What has happened! It
seems an absolute bungle and minus seemingly the most important
points. My plates have been reproduced fearfully and absolutely contrary
(in some cases) to my instructions. No proof was ever submitted to me.
Do tell me what you think of the whole thing . . . Davis has behaved like a
bear to me of late, but no matter.’ Carter could not afford to be too
particular. Davis had been a source of work during his period of diffi-
culty, and should continue to be so. In a letter to Newberry in March
1906, Harold Jones, an artist/archaeologist in the Davis circle,
mentioned, ‘I believe Howard Carter got about £1 5 a plate for his draw-
ings.’ 26 This would not have been a bad price for those days. Painting was
Carter’s principal source of income at this time and he could not have
afforded to alienate Davis without a truly compelling reason. At £15 a
plate he would have made £210 for his work on Yuia and Tjuiu.

Theodore Davis was not the only one to use Carter’s talents. For the
Earl of Northampton, who had carried out excavations with Newberry
and Wilhelm Spielgelberg in the Theban Necropolis in 1898-9, he made

24 Two letters to Newberry in G.I. Newberry Corr. 12/7 and 12/8.

25 Letter of 29 September, 1907 to Newberry, G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/26.

26 G.I. Newberry Corr. 27/2. Harold Jones, a Welsh artist and excavator who worked for

Davis, Carnarvon and the Metropolitan Museum at Lisht, died prematurely in 1911.

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CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

a painting of a scene of pig-herding from the tomb of Nebamun. This
was published in Report of some excavations in the Theban Necropolis (London,
1908). Jeanette Buttles used some Carter water-colours of royal ‘portraits’
for her popular work The Queens of Egypt, based on the sensitively carved
reliefs in the Hatshepsut temple at Deir el-Bahri, which Carter had first
copied for the Egypt Exploration Fund. This volume was also published
in London in 1908. The Deir el-Bahri portraits became standard subjects
for his brush, and several copies of his paintings of Queen Ahmose and
King Tuthmosis I survive from this period. He also issued in about 1908
a portfolio of coloured reproductions of Deir el-Bahri subjects, a rare
publication, possibly issued in a limited edition.

In spite of these commissions, Howard Carter’s existence during his
period in the wilderness was uncertain and precarious. On the one hand,
he maintained a kind of social life, some elements of which can be
observed in the pages of Emma Andrews’s diary - tea in the Luxor
Hotel, lunch or tea with the Davis party on the Tedaivin, visiting the exca-
vations with Lord and Lady Halsbury (10 February 1907). He seems to
have had some kind of suitable quarters in Luxor or on the West Bank in
early 1 907, for on 21 February Mrs. Andrews records a visit to his studio.
From inclination and experience Carter would certainly have done his
best to maintain appearances, perhaps even to the point of extravagance
in his current straightened circumstances. Harold Jones in Cairo in the
late autumn of 1906 found that Carter was staying at the Continental
Hotel, a place that he could hardly have afforded at the time unless he
was the guest of some affluent visitor whom he was accompanying. On
that occasion he snubbed Harold Jones: 27 ‘it was too much trouble I
suppose to worry about me, so I didn’t see him tho’ the servant told me
that he was in! ... I’ll be more careful in die future.’

It is also possible that Carter was able to finance his way of life, with a
few extravagances, by selling antiquities. In a few years’ time, much
encouraged by the Earl of Carnarvon, he carried out many commissions
for public and private clients, as will be seen later on. It is difficult to
believe that he would have neglected this obvious source of support in
earlier years. He was, after all, a free agent now, with no responsibilities
owed to the Antiquities Service; and he had the good contacts with
dealers in Luxor and Cairo. Still, some economy had to be exercised. His
visit to Britain in the summer of 1907 was of much longer duration than
would have been normal in earlier years, there would have been little for

27 Letter of Jones to Newberry of 27 November 1906, G.I. Newberry Corr. 27/5.

157

HOWARD CARTER

him to do in the off-season in Egypt, and he could live more modestly by
staying with friends or family. On 15 July Harold Jones, writing, interest-
ingly, from Highclere Castle, reports to Percy Newberry, 28 ‘Of course
you know that Howard Carter is in England. I have seen him a few times,
but now I think he is with his mother.’ Later during this stay in Britain
Carter told Newberry of the chance that he might go to work for Robert
Mond in the Theban Necropolis, and that in the meanwhile he would
probably return to Swaffham. 29

There is in this letter of 7 September a sadly wintry note: ‘Didlington
is in brown paper parcels and Lady Amherst is saving odd bits of string’
The Amhersts had fallen on difficult times, and were having to give up
their beloved Didlington. ’" For Carter this must have come as an occa-
sion of great sorrow, especially as it did at a time of crisis in his own life.
Didlington had provided him with perhaps the best point of reference
and base in Britain after the Carter house in Swaffham where his mother
was ever ready to welcome him on his occasional visits. At Didlington
there seems always to have been a friendly reception. The Amhersts had
provided him with much more than hospitality; they had known him as a
young boy, recognized his artistic talent, encouraged his interest, recom-
mended him for work in Egypt, promoted his career, supported him in
his fall from grace in 1905, and bought his water-colours. It would not all
end with the loss of Didlington, but things would never be the same
again. Lord Amherst would die in 1909, and Carter would help in the
dispersal of the great collection. He would shortly acquire a new and
powerful patron, and his career was on the point of achieving stability
once again; yet the warmth of his friendly relationship with the Amhersts
would never be fully repeated. Among themselves and with close mutual
friends they regularly called him Howard, and his company was sought
and enjoyed whenever possible. It was unusual for someone of his undis-
tinguished background to reach this degree of intimacy with a wealthy
and influential landed family. It remains astonishing to find Alicia
Amherst writing in her journal of the Amherst Nile trip of 1 894—5, when
their dahabiya had reached Luxor on the return from Nubia: 31 ‘Howard

28 G.I. Newberry Corr. 27/6.

29 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/24.

30 ‘Owing to the dishonesty of a solicitor entrusted with the administration of estate and
trust funds, Lord Amherst found himsef in 1906 obliged to announce the sale of the
finer portion of the magnificent library at Didlington Hall’; so Dictionary of National
Biography. Supplement 1901—191 /, pp. 40f.

31 Entry for 26 February 1895 (Shrove Tuesday); see p. 73 above.

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CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

Carter came to dine and sleep, as he did every night when we were there.’
And this was the young man of whose social habits John Newberry had
complained so bitterly scarcely more than a year befored 2

Carter’s return to Egypt at the end of the summer in 1907 could
scarcely have been an occasion of heightened expectation, and his own
uncertain prospects could not have been cheered by the contemplation
of the Amhersts’ tragedy. On 29 September he wrote to Percy Newberry
from Luxor about the preparation of the plate showing pigs from the
tomb of Nebamun for the publication of the Northampton excavation
on which Newberry was at the time engaged. It was the letter in which
Carter complained of the poor reproduction of his plates for Davis’s
volume, The Tomb of louiya and TouiyouP The communication is not
sanguine. The plate Newberry needs is in Cairo: ‘I will send it to you
directly I do go down but that moment of my life seems even farther away
than my next week’s grub and lodgings.’ Such a lament surely implies a
degree of domestic uncertainty which may have manifested itself in the
acceptance of charity from whatever source it might come, even the
Egyptian inhabitants of Qurna. But some relief was not far away. On 1 1
January 1908 Harold Jones wrote to Newberry from Matania, near Lisht,
where the Metropolitan Museum expedition was working:’ 4 ‘I haven’t
seen Carter yet - he is living again in his old house at Medinet Habu - I
suppose the Government have lent it to him.’ Could this act of gener-
osity have represented a first move in Maspero’s scheme to have Carter
work with the Earl of Carnarvon?

It may be remembered that the Egyptian Gazette announced in its
Personal and Social column on 14 December 1905 that the Earl and
Countess of Carnarvon were expected shortly to pay a visit of a few
weeks to Egypt. The visit, one of a series of Egyptian tours, was essen-
tially to be one of recuperation, for Lord Carnarvon was still suffering
from the after-effects of a motor accident in which he had been involved
in Germany in 1901. In the course of Iris visits he had developed a wish
to excavate. Good precedents for excavations in Egypt by private
persons, as opposed to public institutions, existed: in Thebes alone,
Theodore Davis demonstrated exceptional success in the Valley of the
Tombs of the Kings, and there were also the Marquis of Northampton

32 See p. 73 above.

33 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/26.

34 G.I. Newberry Corr. 27/11. At the time Jones was working with the Metropolitan

Museum Egyptian Expedition at the Middle-Kingdom pyramid field at Lisht.

159

HOWARD CARTER

and Robert Mond with less spectacular but not negligible results. There
is no reason to doubt the seriousness of Carnarvon’s intentions, even if
he may have viewed himself as entering into competition of a kind with
those who were already well established. His position enabled him to
persuade Maspero, seemingly through Sir William Garstin, head of
Public Works and therefore in charge of antiquities, to grant him permis-
sion to work at Thebes. The onus of finding a suitable site was placed on
Arthur Weigall, who had only recently taken over the inspectorate of
Upper Egypt from Quibell. Weigall undoubtedly disapproved. He was
already expected to supervise in a general way the work of Ayrton for
Theodore Davis, and his comments on that excavation have been quoted
earlier. They were in fact prompted by his reflections on Carnarvon’s
operations, offered to Francis LI. Griffith. Writing of the finding of a
‘tablet’ by Carnarvon, Weigall confesses : 35

I am quite ashamed to tell you the tale of its discovery. Two years ago
Lord Carnarvon asked Sir William Garstin to obtain him a digging
concession. Maspero having approved the application, Sir William
wrote to me telling me to find him a site. Fearing that he might do
damage to a good site, I placed him on die rubbish mounds of Shekh
abd’el Gurneh, where of course he worked for the season without
finding anything, though I had hoped that he might find a good
painted tomb, which would have been a useful find, without much to
damage in it.

Carnarvon was not put off by his lack of success, but seems to have
sensed that he may not have been treated by Weigall as fairly and gener-
ously as he would have expected. So he sought advice elsewhere. Weigall
continues:

In the following year, however, Lord Carnarvon thought it better to
arrange the sites for himself, and acting on native information asked
for concessions in Dra Abu’l Neggar. These were granted without my
having an opportunity of protesting and excavations were carried out
under a rough supervision by me. Towards the end of the work I had
to go away, and when I returned to Luxor Lord Carnarvon had gone,
leaving his antiquities in my office. There was a basket full of odds and
ends amongst these, and stuffed anyhow into the mouth of the basket

35 G.I. Griffith letter 362; written probably on 1 October 1907.

160

CRISIS AND RESOLUTION

was this tablet in two pieces, and I am sure this rough handling is
responsible for some of the flaking. A sadder instance of the sin of
allowing amateurs to dig could not be found. Lord Carnarvon does his
best, and sits over his work conscientiously; but that is not enough.
Next year he is to dig at Dra abu’l Neggar and Aswan, I believe. He is
a good sort, but perfectly irresponsible.

It is most unlikely that Weigall failed to pass on his misgivings about
Carnarvon’s competence to Maspero, insisting in all probability that the
concession to dig should be withdrawn or that some other arrangement
for supervision should be made. The former of these alternatives would
have seemed out of the question to Maspero who had an excessively
indulgent attitude to people of influence like Carnarvon; he would in any
case not have been able to take such a step without consulting higher
authority. On the other hand, to provide Carnarvon with professional
help was well within his power. Who could better serve in this capacity
than Howard Carter, his erstwhile protege, for whose present unfortu-
nate plight he no doubt still felt partly responsible? Such a solution was
altogether satisfactory for Maspero; and there is no reason to believe that
it was not equally satisfactory for Lord Carnarvon who had at about this
time written to Weigall about bringing out ‘a learned man as I have not
time to learn up all the requisite data’. 36 With Carter’s professional
competence behind him, the scholarly reputation of his enterprise would
be established. For Carter the proposal could only have been gratifying;
now he would be able once again to do what his whole professional
career had equipped him for; he would also receive a regular salary. It is
very probable that Carter and Carnarvon would already have met in
Luxor; it seems even possible that when Weigall talked of Carnarvon’s
‘acting on native information’ Carter was behind the advice. His was the
ear into which a Qurnawi would have entrusted significant intelligence
about promising sites and finds.

The proposed association may have been first suggested by Maspero
at the end of Carnarvon’s 1908 season before Carnarvon returned to
England. It may have been later in the year. No matter what the prelimi-
naries were, they resulted in Carter’s joining Carnarvon for his third
season in Thebes in 1909. The omens were good. That the partnership
would lead after many years and the interruption of a World War to the

36 The letter, which is among the Weigall Papers, is quoted in N. Reeves, The Complete
Tutankhamun (London, 1990), pp. 44, 218.

161

HOWARD CARTER

most dramatic archaeological discovery of the twentieth century, could
hardly have been foreseen. But for Carter it at once brought to an end a
singularly unhappy and difficult period. The memory of the sad events of
1905 and his resignation from the Antiquities Service could not easily be
forgotten. His return to painting — ‘a thing he should have done years
ago’, as Mrs Andrews confided to her diary — had not worked out as he
had hoped. Living a kind of hand-to-mouth existence did not suit his
temperament. Now, to work with the Earl of Carnarvon held a promise
of much better things. Carter aspired to grand company, and could
expect social advantages of the kind he had enjoyed with the Amhersts.
He never subsequendy suggested that his departure from the Antiquities
Service provided him in due course with the chance to work for
Carnarvon; but he would surely have thought in later years that in his
earlier misfortune lay the seed of his later success. Truly de son bannisse-
ment il tire son bonheur? 1

37 The date of the start of Carter’s association with Lord Carnarvon is confirmed by a
letter written to Mrs Kingsmill Marrs; see the addenda below.

162

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT
THEBES

A mummified cat in a case represented the sum total of the finds from
the Earl of Carnarvon’s first Theban season. It was one object more than
Arthur Weigall credited to him in his letter to Francis LI. Griffith, and in
his more considered report which Griffith included in the Archaeological
Report 1906—1907 ,* he puts the outcome starkly: ‘his labours were fruit-
less.’ Subsequent contributions about Carnarvon’s work to later Archaeo-
logical Reports were equally terse, and generally uninformative. In the
Report tor 1907-8: ‘Lord Carnarvon conducted some small excavations at
Gurneh, and obtained a few valuable antiquities, including the tablet of
which I send you the photos. An interesting tomb of Dynasty XIV— XVII
was uncovered.’ Here a note by Griffith gives a short but useful account
of this tablet, which, as will appear, was one of the objects for which the
Carnarvon excavations are best remembered, In the Report for 1908-9 he
covers Carnarvon’s season in two lines, adding, ‘I hope that next year will
see the successful completion of this bit of work.’ At the same time, he
separately devoted a whole paragraph to reporting a theft from a tomb
previously excavated by Carnarvon, with some tendentious comments
on dealers and ‘better-class Egyptians’. At last in the Report for 1909-10,
Carter is included with Carnarvon in Weigall’s three-line note on their
discoveries. For 1910-11, two lines suffice. No further annual dispatches
on excavations were sent by Weigall, but in the Report for 1911-12 there
was a good notice of Five Years’ Explorations at Thebes. 1 2 It was written by
Griffith, always the most sympathetic and generous of scholars, whose

1 Weigall’s short reports on Carnarvon’s work are included in the E.E.F. Arch. Reps, as
follows: 1906-7, p. 18; 1907-8, p. 7; 1908-9, pp. 12 £; 1909-10, p. 18; 1910-11, p. 20.
The cat coffin of the first season is illustrated in N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun
(London, 1990), p. 23.

2 E.E.F. Arch. Rep. 1911-1912, p. 23.

163

HOWARD CARTER

judgements, briefly expressed, contained more wisdom than the lengthy
commentaries of most of his contemporary colleagues.

The annual Archaeological Reports of the Egypt Exploration Fund,
edited and largely written by Griffith, represented the first serious
attempt to offer to professional scholars and interested amateurs a
conspectus of what was happening universally in the world of Egyp-
tology. It might, therefore, be thought that Weigall’s modest annual
comments on the Carnarvon excavations at Thebes were exceptionally
ungenerous, inspired perhaps by hostility towards Carnarvon and, later,
Carter. This view, however, may give insufficient credit to Weigall’s own
deeply felt ideas on excavation, its methods and purposes, on profes-
sionals and amateurs, and on priorities in archaeological work generally.
It has already been made clear that he did not give Carnarvon much of a
chance to carry out a good excavation, even though he admitted to
finding him ‘a good sort’. He did not like the way he had obtained his
concession, and he distinctly objected to Carnarvon’s exploitation of
personal standing with the British officials in Egypt. As Chief Inspector
of Upper Egypt, based in Luxor, Weigall no doubt felt that he had been
outmanoeuvred in his own parish, and practically ignored in his official
capacity; and this feeling was surely intensified when Howard Carter
joined Carnarvon as his expert.

For the early years of Weigall’s inspectorship Carter had lived mostly at
Thebes during the winter months, scratching a living, trying to keep up
appearances, with no archaeological pretensions, acting occasionally as a
superior dragoman for parties of grand tourists or as personal guide for
individuals of wealth and importance. He was a former colleague, six
years older, from whose fall Weigall had perhaps benefited - although
the latter would surely have received an official appointment sooner or
later. He was no threat, might even be mocked in his indigent state, and
could be the recipient of charitable attentions. The Chief Inspector could
put work unofficially in his way — painting or guiding — but there is no
evidence for any such helpful interventions. And then, in 1908—9
Howard Carter became redivivus, quite unexpectedly one must assume,
and given a position which rendered him independent from those who
might previously have been able to patronize him. He had been
promoted to be Carnarvon’s man by Maspero, who was delighted to be
able to bring him back into the archaeological field. In his report on the
progress of the Antiquities Service for 1909 Maspero, for the first time
since 1 905, mentions his old protege. Referring to Carnarvon’s work, he

164

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

adds: 3 ‘He had entrusted the supervision of his working site to our
former inspector Mr. Howard Carter, whom we have been happy to see
return to archaeology at least for a time.’ It is not likely that Maspero
would have consulted Weigall before putting Carter’s name before
Carnarvon. Any surprise on Weigall’s part, however, may have been
diminished by Maspero ’s allowing Carter as early as the spring of 1908 to
move back into the old Antiquities Service house at Medinet Habu — the
first Castle Carter. This was apparently a real act of charity on Maspero’s
part, but perhaps anticipating his intention to recommend Carter to
Carnarvon.

If there was a serious possibility of a clash of personalities and inter-
ests between Weigall and Carter, it may not have been imminent in the
early years. Weigall appears to have thought that Carnarvon’s patience in
excavating would not survive many seasons of indifferent results. He
may even have formed the opinion from hints dropped by Carnarvon
himself, who in about 1908 was thinking of applying for a concession to
excavate at Aswan. He believed that some diversification might bring a
better chance of success, and there was the evidence of the good results
achieved at Aswan by Lady William Cecil a few years earlier. But this idea
was dropped after Carter joined him, and by his own skills turned a
modest enterprise at Thebes into a very interesting and successful
campaign. The improvement in Carnarvon’s operations may then have
led to a hardening of Weigall’s attitude, and some element of jealousy
might be detected. It is likely, however, that dislike of what was being
effected by Carnarvon and Carter was prompted more by a strong,
almost ideological, antipathy on Weigall’s part to the nature of the
Carnarvon dig. Weigall was a man of considerable intelligence, with a
quick mind, a sharp pen, and a scornful attitude towards amateurism. He
also developed firm views about the ethics of excavation, incorporating a
somewhat puritanical approach for the time. He saw in Carnarvon’s exca-
vation much to object to in principle: Carnarvon, the rich man, playing at
excavation; Carter, the new man, with imperfect training, and a distinct
interest in the comfortable life which went with hobnobbing with the
great; and Maspero himself, a great scholar, but too inclined to be well
disposed towards persons of position, and exercising the wrong priorities
in his attitudes to field-work generally. The differences would simmer,
and to some extent fester, in the years leading up to the First World War,

3 Rapports sur la marche du Service des A.ntiquites de 1899 a 1910 (Cairo, 1912), p. 293; orig-
inal in French.

165

HOWARD CARTER

and Weigall would become more positive and outspoken in his views. It
will be seen, when the matter is discussed later, that Weigall’s opinion was
not unique to himself, and it was in a sense anticipating what would
develop politically within the Antiquities Service after Maspero’s resigna-
tion in 1914 (at the age of 68) and the appointment of Pierre Lacau as his
successor, and in the changed circumstances after the war. Then a
momentum, fuelled by the rise of nationalism in Egypt and a new
realism in regard to archaeological work there, would lead inexorably
towards drastic changes in the exercise of the antiquities laws and prac-
tices. It would be not only the privileged digs of rich amateurs that would
be threatened, but all excavation work, and the most dramatic withdrawal
from working in Egypt would be that of the most dedicated excavator of
them all, Flinders Petrie. 4

Those developments, which may trace their embryonic stirrings to the
views of Arthur Weigall, sharpened on his dislike of Carnarvon’s excava-
tions and all that went with them, lay some years ahead. Nevertheless it is
worth bearing them in mind when the actual work paid for by Carnarvon
and directed by Carter is considered. Was it as ‘irresponsible’ as Weigall
at first suggested? Was it conducted badly and supervised inadequately?
Was it, in the end, profitable archaeologically, and reasonably published?
On the evidence of Carter’s surviving field-notes, preserved in the Grif-
fith Institute in Oxford, and of the volume Five Years’ Explorations at
Thebes , 5 no one could deny the value of the information provided by the
discoveries made in the course of the whole enterprise, or the very
decent standard reached in the publication of the results. There is good
evidence, further, from private letters and independent accounts of the
work in progress, that both Carnarvon and Carter were deeply
committed to the excavations, and conducted them with close supervi-
sion on a regular basis. The dig lacked entirely the social element that
characterized the Theodore Davis excavation in the Valley of the Kings.

The area in which Carnarvon and Carter worked at Thebes lay in what
might have been described then - though quite wrongly - as the ‘unfash-
ionable’ district of the Necropolis. It was in part of what was named the
Asasif, extending from in front of the enclosure of the great Deir el-
Bahri temple of Queen Hatshepsut, eastwards along the line but to the
north of the temple causeway, and taking in the southern slopes of the

4 See M. S. Drawer, Flinders Petrie. A Fife in Archaeology (London, 1985), pp. 356ff.

5 The Earl of Carnarvon and H. Carter, Five Years’ Explorations at Thebes: A Kecord of work

done 1907-1911 , (London, 1912).

166

NUMBERED TOMBS

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

167

THE THEBAN NECROPOLIS

HOWARD CARTER

region known as Dra Abu el-Naga. It was known to be a place where
tombs had been excavated and constructed in antiquity, and one which
from its appearance had already been worked over by the diligent inhab-
itants of the neighbouring villages. It was a challenge for Carnarvon, and
it says much for his serious intentions that he chose to excavate in this
somewhat unpromising concession. The time was one of relative quiet in
the Theban Necropolis. The Egypt Exploration Fund had recendy
completed their major excavation of the earlier temple at Deir el-Bahri,
that of King Nebhepetre Mentuhotpe II of the Eleventh Dynasty. The
Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was yet to
settle down in a fine new excavation house — a Ritz among dig-houses -
to work in the area to the south of the Carnarvon concession. Yet there
was still a fair amount of Theban field-work in hand, with Theodore
Davis in the Valley of the Kings and Ernesto Schiaparelli in the Valley of
the Queens. A welcome newcomer to the West Bank was Norman de
Garis Davies who, with his wife Nina, was to make the recording of
Theban tombs his life-work. He had succeeded Percy Newberry as the
principal field-worker of the Archaeological Survey of the Egypt Explo-
ration Fund, completing in the early years of the century many of the
tasks which Newberry had once planned for himself and Howard Carter.
Now he had been offered a permanent appointment by the Metropolitan
Museum and, with a secure future ahead, could settle with his wife at
Thebes for six to eight months every year, establishing a congenial
domestic environment where Carter in particular could find sympathetic
company. Emile Baraize, a French architect employed by the Antiquities
Service, was busily engaged in conservation work at the Ramesseum, the
funerary temple of King Ramesses II, and, close to Carter’s house at
Medinet Habu, a huge complex of buildings, including the almost
complete funerary temple of King Ramesses III. And in addition,
between times, when not engaged elsewhere, Arthur Weigall was busily
installing gates on the private Theban tombs, a project supported finan-
cially by Robert Mond, in continuation of what had been started while
Carter was Chief Inspector.

Excavation in the Theban Necropolis was then not at all the pains-
taking activity which it is seen to be at the present time. It was, as it had
been since the early nineteenth century, a matter of clearance, employing
a substantial work-force, controlled by Egyptian foremen, to shift the
accumulations of limestone chippings and water-deposited debris that
overlay the ancient remains. There may have been little exercise of skill or

168

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

science in this kind of operation, for the majority of the work in places
like the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens involved
shifting ‘rubbish’ — as it was often called — rather than a careful uncov-
ering of a site layer by layer. In the area of Carnarvon’s concession there
were many mounds of debris dug into and turned over by tomb-robbers,
and the idea of a stratified dig in modern terms was scarcely to be
contemplated. It was something of the situation at Deir el-Bahri when
the controversy between Petrie and Naville had raged in the early 1890s.
Nevertheless, even when working with a fairly broad brush, employing
dozens of basket-boys and digging in more than one place at a time, the
good excavator would not neglect supervision, observation and
recording. A high standard of control was established by Howard Carter,
a practice perhaps already instigated by Lord Carnarvon himself in his
early solo years. In the Introduction to the impressive publication of his
excavations, Carnarvon explains: 6

I made it a rule that when a tomb was found, as few workmen as
possible should be employed; and, in order that the opportunity for
stealing should be reduced to a minimum, no clearing of a chamber or
pit was carried on unless Mr. Carter or I was present. That nothing
should escape us, we also, in certain cases, had to sift over the rubbish
from the tombs three times.

Care and surveillance at this level were rare for such times.

The years of excavation which followed Carter’s joining the Earl of
Carnarvon provided him with more sustained serious digging than he
had ever practised before. It was a period of consolidation, in which he
was obliged to develop his techniques of field-work far beyond what
he had been accustomed to do in his earlier years at Thebes when he
worked on the Tomb of the Horse and on the first operations for Theo-
dore Davis in the Valley of die Kings. Excavation was generally becoming
very much more professional, and Carter must himself have appreciated
that the standards now expected were higher than those that had passed
for good practice even with Flinders Petrie in the season at El-Amarna in
1892. Nevertheless, he was much more a Petrie man in the way he worked
than a Naville man; but above all he was his own man, relying on a patient
persistent temperament, supported by his ability to record superbly well
whatever he found in drawings, plans and photographs. He also had for

6 Five Years’, pp. If.

169

HOWARD CARTER

the first time the opportunity to prepare a fuller and more professional
publication of the results of his work than had ever been possible for him
to do previously. Although the volumes sponsored by Theodore Davis
on the various tombs found in the excavations he had financed in the
Valley of the Kings were lavishly produced, they were disappointingly
thin and rather imperfect records of what had been found. The volumes
in which Carter himself had been involved, dealing with the tombs of
Tuthmosis IV and Tomb 20, described as the tomb of Queen
Hatshepsut, 7 are archaeologically more satisfactory than those that
followed, but even so they fall short of what he was able to prepare for
Carnarvon’s work.

Five Years' Explorations at Thebes, subtitled A Record of work done 1907—
191 1 , appeared commendably quickly in 1912. It covered the early years
of Carnarvon’s excavations, after his first trial season, as well as the years
of co-operation with Carter, and it is instructive to perform a kind of
excavation on its contents themselves to see what represents the results
of Carnarvon’s first two seasons, and to examine the way in which his
discoveries are presented compared with that dealing with the finds
made with Howard Carter. The distinction is not explicitly made because
the book is written as if all the results stem from the co-operative efforts
of Carnarvon and Carter; and there can be litde doubt that Carter’s hand
was involved in the book as a whole, except in those chapters written by
specialist scholars dealing with particular finds. Among the earliest of the
important finds made by Carnarvon was the tomb of Tetiky, a mayor of
Thebes who lived in the early Eighteenth Dynasty (c. 1525 BC). It had
been discovered in early 1908 before Carter had joined him; the photo-
graphic record of the painted scenes on the walls of the tomb was made
by Carter perhaps before his formal engagement by Carnarvon. The
volume contains a very brief note on the excavation of the tomb written
by Carter, but singularly thin in detail. 8 The tomb scenes and inscrip-
tions, and the very interesting early shabtis (funerary deputies) found in
it, are described by two other scholars, Georges Legrain and Percy
Newberry. It is this tomb about which Weigall had reported thefts in the
notes he had written for Griffith’s Archaeological Keport 1908—1909. The
tomb of Tetiky was sealed by Weigall to prevent further thefts of parts of
the painted walls, and it was generally thought, presumably on the basis

7 H. Carter and P. E. Newberry, The Tomb ofThoutmosis TV (London, 1904); T. M. Davis

with contributions by E. Naville and H. Carter, The Tomb of Hatshopsitu (London, 1906).

8 Five Years ’ , pp. 12f. The Legrain and Newberry chapters follow, pp. 14ff. and 19ff.

170

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

of WeigalTs inspection, that there was little left to see, in Legrain’s words,
‘The tomb . . . having unfortunately been mostly destroyed.’ So it was not
readily available for Carter to study when the time came to write it up for
the publication. Subsequently, in 1924, it was reopened for Newberry,
and the opportunity was taken by Norman de Garis Davies to copy what
was left of the painted scenes. He was surprised to find that the damage
done since the excavation was relatively slight, and he was able, with his
assistant Charles Wilkinson, to make a good record of the scenes; 9 this
record could presumably have been made by Carter years before if the
tomb had not been sealed.

The tomb of Tetiky, historically and artistically important, was essen-
tially a robbed sepulchre, quite the most common state for the majority
of tombs found at Thebes. Some better luck came with the tomb
numbered 9 in the excavation sequence. It again was found early in 1908
before Carter joined Carnarvon, 10 but he was able to complete its clear-
ance and study in 1909. Apart from a huge quantity of pottery and of
poorly preserved mummies, two damaged writing boards were found.
One of these, known as the Carnarvon Tablet I, bears on one side the
beginning of a very important historical text. 11 It relates the start of the
campaign which led to the expulsion from Egypt of the Asiatic Hyksos
rulers who had usurped royal authority in Egypt during what is usually
termed the Second Intermediate Period, between the Middle and New
Kingdoms. The text, which is written in the cursive hieratic script on the
gesso-plastered surface of the writing board, is dated to the reign of
Kamose, the last king of the Seventeenth Dynasty ( c . 1555 BC). As soon
as it was discovered and made known to scholars, it excited great interest
and considerable controversy, the debate hinging on whether the text
was a true historical document or part of a fictional account of the expul-
sion of the Hyksos. Persuasive arguments in favour of the historical
interpretation were provided by Alan H. Gardiner in a classic article
written in 1916. 12 Yet, when it was found, it was understandably not

9 In J.E.A. 11 (1925), pp. lOff.

10 So N. de G. Davies, ibid., p. 10.

1 1 See F. LI. Griffith in Five Years’, pp. 36f. The text on the reverse is part of a well known
Middle-Kingdom composition, ‘The Instruction of Ptah-hotpe’, on which generally,
see M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, I (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1973),
pp. 6 Iff.

12 In J.E.YI. 3 (1916), pp. 95ff. The discovery in Karnak in 1954 of a large stela of King
Kamose virtually clinched the historical credentials of the text on Carnarvon Tablet I,
see L. Habachi, The Second Stela of Kamose (Gliickstadt, 1972).

171

HOWARD CARTER

recognized by Lord Carnarvon as an object of great importance. He had
no competence in reading the hieroglyphic script, and no possibility of
penetrating the hieratic signs of the ink text on the tablet. Had he already
been supported by Howard Carter, he would not have been better
informed at the time of discovery about the nature of the text; but Carter
would surely have divined the possibility of its importance, and sought
an opinion from some scholar passing through Thebes who might have
been able to give at least some idea of what the text was about. As it was,
and according to Weigall’s letter to Griffith of October 1908, 1 1 die tablet
in two pieces was stuffed into a basket and left with the other antiquities
in the Chief Inspector’s office when Carnarvon left Thebes at the end of
his season.

Enhanced rigour, system and control were to characterize the
Carnarvon operations after Carter’s arrival, and the effects of the change
are clearly reflected in the detail and authority to be found in the chapters
of Five Years’ Explorations at Thebes which report what was accomplished
in the three years of his improved supervision. In his Introduction,
summing up the achievements of the five seasons, Carnarvon lists the
three parts of his concession to which he confined his attention. 14 The
first was a spot near the old village mosque where there was said to be a
hidden tomb; it was the tomb of Tetiky. Second, there was the part of the
lower slope of Dra Abu el-Naga, known as the Birabi, a name explained
in the publication as meaning locally ‘vaulted tombs’, of which there
were many in the district. Strictly the word is the plural form of birba,
meaning ‘temple ruin’. Tomb no. 9 was an early example of the kind of
discovery which awaited the attention of Carnarvon and Carter. The
third part included a segment of the area on the north side of the Deir el-
Bahri valley, containing burials of the Eleventh Dynasty. Working at
times with a force of as many as 275 men and boys — by no means an
unusually large number by the standards of the times — they uncovered
many tombs in both of the main parts, and, additionally, structures which
were both archaeologically important and also difficult to interpret.
From the excavator’s point of view, the least profitable part of the work
was that listed as third by Carnarvon. The day-to-day work was super-
vised by a young Welshman, Cyril Jones, who had come to Luxor in the
steps of his brother Harold, a talented artist who was employed both by
Theodore Davis and, latterly, by the Metropolitan Museum Egyptian

13 See p. 160 above.

14 Five Years’, p. 2.

172

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

Expedition at Lisht in Middle Egypt. The area was much worked over,
yet the discoveries were not negligible, including several early tombs
which had been re-used in the later dynasties of the Pharaonic Period
(after about 1100 BC) for multiple burials. Cyril Jones also discovered
two virtually intact foundation deposits' 3 associated with the dromos, or
causeway, leading from Hatshepsut’s temple to the edge of the Nile plain
where one would hope to find a temple to be used in the funeral services
of the queen, and subsequently for ceremonies connected with the royal
funerary cult.

As happens so frequently in excavation, the unexpected led to what
might have been expected - part of a well-constructed wall, found by
chance during the clearance of tomb no. 9, turned out to be a trace of the
so-called Valley Temple of Hatshepsut. What remained of the temple was
uncovered by Carter in 1910—11, at first unidentified but later firmly
dated to the queen’s reign by ink inscriptions on some of the blocks
naming the architect of the structure, Puyemre. A foundation deposit
with objects inscribed with the queen’s name, and stamped mud-bricks,
further confirmed the identification, but there was little to be made of the
building itself: it was either never completed, or fairly comprehensively
destroyed, quarried away probably for its fine stone-work. 16 The remains
of another destroyed royal building was found near by, a colonnaded
temple of King Ramesses IV of the Twentieth Dynasty ( c : 1160 BC). Its
traces were concealed by a range of vaulted tombs which extended also
over part of the Hatshepsut Valley Temple. These tombs, the source of
the locality’s name, Birabi, contained the remains of burials of the Ptole-
maic Period and yielded few objects of interest at the time, apart from
two well preserved papyri with texts written in the demotic script, the
very cursive form of Egyptian writing used mostly for secular purposes in
the late periods of Egyptian antiquity. These two documents, found in a
sealed pottery amphora, could be dated to the early second century BC,
and contained legal contracts for the sale of temple land. Carter arranged
for them to be studied by Wilhelm Speigelberg, a leading demotic scholar
and professor of Egyptology in the University of Strassburg. He contrib-
uted a brief account for the great Carnarvon volume, and published a
scholarly article on the documents in a specialist journal in 191 3. 17

15 Five Years ’, pp. 30f£

16 For the valley temple, see Carter’s chapter, Five Years ' ’, pp. 38ff. For the building of

Ramesses IV, p. 48.

17 Five Years' \ p. 46£; for the full publication see Rev. Trav. 35 (1913), pp. 150f£

173

HOWARD CARTER

The most striking finds in the way of objects were made by Carter in
earlier tombs in the Birabi, tombs of the late Middle Kingdom re-used in
the Second Intermediate Period and early Eighteenth Dynasty (c. 1 700-
1500 BC), which had in some cases been made repositories for multiple
burials. What would have been rich early burials were, however, sadly
diminished in content by vandalism, theft and natural causes. Writing to
Percy Newberry sometime in 1910-11 (the letter is just dated ‘Saturday”),
Carter laments: 18

What treasure there would have been had not the early plunderers
done so much damage and the white ants too. But still quite a nice lot
of things turn up. Lord Carnarvon has still two more tombs to clear,
making now 8 in all and there must be many more yet to be uncov-
ered.

Three tombs in particular (nos 25, 27, 37) produced a huge amount of
funerary equipment in the form of painted coffins, many in the style
peculiar to the late Second Intermediate Period, known as rishi coffins
because of their feathered decoration. 19 There were also excellent indi-
vidual finds of small statuary, cosmetic equipment, including from one
tomb a fine toilet box splendidly fitted out with mirror and alabaster
vessels, made for an official of King Ammenemes IV of the Twelfth
Dynasty, named Kemen. The same tomb (no. 25) produced a wood and
ivory object which at first was not recognized for what it was, as a letter
from Carter to Mrs Newberry makes clear: 20

another small ivory box in the form of an axe on four bull’s legs. This
had a cornelian and gold brooch and 10 most beautiful ivory hair pins
— 5 with jackal heads and 5 with slughis (hunting dogs) heads.

Carter subsequently identified it as a board game, the ivory pins being
the pieces; he called it ‘Hounds contra jackals’, and in the excavation
volume provided a set of rules for play. 21 Extracting damaged, delicate
objects under the working conditions of a large Theban dig was a chancy
matter, and success depended greatly on the vigilance of those in charge.

18 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/79.

19 Descriptions and inventories of finds are given by Carter in Five Years’, pp. 5 Iff.

20 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/33, of 16 March 1910.

21 Five Years’, pp. 58ff.

174

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

Carter’s account of the first encounter with promising pieces in tomb no.
25 is instructive: 22

At first this grave seemed to be a great disappointment. But when, in
Lord Carnarvon’s presence, the men found in the lower filling of the
shaft an ivory pin and a piece of a box with silver binding, our hopes
were raised. Lord Carnarvon at once stopped the workmen until a
time when full surveillance of the clearing could be made. It was a
difficult job, most careful work had to be done with trowel, bellows,
and sometimes a spoon, extricating fragile objects while stones and
sand poured down from the overhanging masonry above in a
menacing manner at every gust of wind.

One may be sure that it was Carter himself who wielded the trowel,
bellows and spoon.

Tomb no. 37, cut into the rock, with a frontage having 18 openings,
was considered by Carter to be one of the largest private tombs in the
Theban Necropolis. There were only a few material traces of the original
burial, and nothing by which the first owner could be identified. It had,
however, been made a repository for many later burials, including 64
coffins, some domestic furniture, unusual instruments, a splendid
‘working’ scribal outfit, toilet equipment, and much ordinary jewellery,
pottery and basketwork. There was also, in one coffin, a beautiful silver-
bronze statuette of a boy called Amenemhab, 1 3 cm high, standing on a
wooden base; also a larger wooden figure of his brother, Huwebenef.

So the excavations that the Earl of Carnarvon began in 1907 had, in
the end, turned out not at all badly. He could be well pleased with the
results, both historical and archaeological; the return in good objects had
also been very satisfactory. It seemed a good moment, therefore, at the
end of the 1911 season, to take stock and publish the results so far. For
him it had been the full five years of the subsequent volume’s title. For
Carter it had been just three seasons, and it was as such that he estimated
his own contribution. Writing to Spiegelberg on 1 July 1911 he says: 2j ‘I
left the burning Theban hills, now three weeks ago, and I am getting
Lord Carnarvon’s Report of the last three years work ready for publica-
tion.’ In the writing he incorporated the results of the first two seasons,
and Lord Carnarvon in his very informative Introduction sets out the

22 Ibid., p. 54.

23 O.I. Spiegelberg-Carnarvon papers.

175

HOWARD CARTER

course of the whole campaign, crediting Carter, as much as himself, with
the totality of the five years’ work. This kind, but misleading, extension
of Carter’s association with him back to 1907, was well-intentioned and
generous; it would not have confused those who were about in Thebes
during the first decade of the century. Yet Percy Newberry in his obit-
uary notice of Howard Carter 24 indicates that the association began in
1908, while Carter himself stated that he ‘began to excavate for Lord
Carnarvon in 1907’. 2n He did not recall dates with precision, even when
they marked significant moments in his life and career.

The three years of collaboration between Carnarvon and Carter had
established more than a working bond for this disparate couple. Lord
Carnarvon, the undoubted grandee in the tradition of the late nineteenth
century, but complicated by a characteristically informal Edwardian
element, had taken enthusiastically to Carter, the talented artist, who
could command respect from Europeans and Egyptians by his authorita-
tive presence when at work in the field. Carnarvon was prepared to join
in the rough and tumble of excavation, as much as his health allowed; he
did not direct from a dahcibiya or his suite at the Winter Palace Hotel.
Carter found in Carnarvon someone he could truly respect, and not just
because he paid the bills and had rescued him from a rather miserable
and undignified existence. They had one further special interest in
common, which helped to increase their affectionate interdependence.
This was a passion for fine antiquities. Nothing that is known about the
beginnings of Carnarvon’s work in Egypt suggests that he took to exca-
vation in order to build up a collection. But an interest developed,
presumably as soon as he found enough antiquities to be entitled to a
share. The opportunities increased dramatically once he was joined by
Carter, who had much experience already in helping wealthy collectors to
acquire material. His capacity for getting to know the dealers of Luxor
has already been mentioned. The years of enforced archaeological idle-
ness had sharpened this capacity, and enabled him, without official ties to
the Antiquities Service, to engage freely in acquiring objects for collec-
tors, private and institutional. The nature of the market in Egypt, at
Luxor and at Cairo, depended both on the random discoveries made by
farmers and labourers working as sebbakhin, and on illicit excavations
carried out by experienced villagers like the Abd er-Rasul family in the
Theban Necropolis. A trickle of objects also came from the regular

24 J.E.A. 25 (1939), p. 68.

25 H. Carter and A. C. Mace, T he Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , I (London, 1923), p. 75.

176

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

pilfering that went on in most excavations; such were the pieces of jewel-
lery and other precious objects lifted from the Theodore Davis excava-
tion of the so-called tomb of Queen Tiye, which Carter found in the
hands of dealers in 1907. 26

In the time when he was Chief Inspector, Carter built up his knowledge
of the dealer network in Luxor, and he used his contacts to obtain advance
information of important, but unofficial, discoveries. As a private person,
acting as an agent for private clients, he could exploit his experience, prof-
itably combing the commercial sources for likely purchases. He might also
be approached by free-lance diggers who would know that he was in the
habit of buying, and that he would usually offer a seller a fairer price than
any dealer would. In acting thus, buying for himself and on behalf of
others, he was not acting improperly according to the law or to the usual
practices of the time. Authorized dealers in antiquities had official licences;
they maintained, in principle, registers of their stock, and were subject to
inspection by representatives of the Antiquities Service. Inspection was
not regular, or common, and it cannot be doubted that many important
antiquities passed through the hands of dealers without the knowledge of
the Cairo Museum. Again, in principle, antiquities for export from Egypt
were to be shown to the authorities at the Cairo Museum and passed, or
confiscated with compensation. Unfortunately the system was not rigor-
ously maintained, and even when inspections took place many things
escaped the process and passed out of Egypt by way of the abundant
loopholes. The scandal of Wallis Budge’s buccaneering approach to the
acquisition and export of antiquities, with which Carter had been wrongly
linked in the newspaper campaign of 1903, 27 was but one example of what
went on commonly in Egypt in the early part of the twentieth century.
Howard Carter certainly claimed that in arranging the export of items
purchased on behalf of institutions he did submit objects to the Cairo
Museum for licences; but it cannot be asserted that he was regularly punc-
tilious in all his other transactions. There is, however, no evidence that in
the many purchases he made on behalf of Lord Carnarvon he ever
behaved in such a way as to attract serious criticism.

Generally speaking, the Carnarvon collection of Egyptian antiquities
consisted of small, beautiful, pieces - sculptures, objects of precious metal,
glass, jewellery — the emphasis being on fine quality. 28 Such were the kinds

26 See p. 1 52 above.

27 See p. 89 above.

28 On Carnarvon as collector, see N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun , p. 47.

177

HOWARD CARTER

of thing Carter sought out and Carnarvon was pleased to buy. In addition
there were the objects from the excavator’s share of the results of the work
at Thebes. Not everything acquired from this source could fit easily into
the company of fine pieces; but many were worthy, and all helped to
provide the collection with an authentic archaeological base against which
the purchased objects could be judged. Not all the pieces from the exca-
vator’s share were retained for Highclere Castle; some were presented as
gifts to institutions like the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum,
and even the local museum in Newbury, Berkshire; others, particularly
larger items like the splendid coffins found in the Birabi tombs, were sold
to interested museums. Sales of material found in excavations were not at
all unusual, and could be justified as a way of recouping some of the heavy
expenses of the field-work. Flinders Petrie was himself accustomed to do
this occasionally, 29 and the practice is not so very different from the
persisting method of financing field-work, whereby contributing institu-
tions receive shares of the objects from divisions.

There was no secrecy about Carnarvon’s collecting, and he was
delighted to show visitors his latest acquisitions. When Carter wrote to
Wilhelm Spiegelberg on 9 July 1911, chiefly, about the demotic papyri he
was publishing, he adds at the end: 3 "

I have shown your MS. to Lord Carnarvon and he is immensely
pleased and he trusts that whenever you should come to England dtat
you will not fail to let him know. The little collection ‘Specimens of
Egyptian fine Art’ is gradually growing and beginning to become most
interesting, and I am sure you will like to see it.

The quality of the objects Carnarvon delighted in acquiring is typified by
the three bracelet plaques of the reign of King Amenophis III (c. 1 360
BC) which were purchased by Carter from a Luxor dealer towards the
end of 1912, in a minor coup by which he just beat the Berlin Museum
through prompt action. 31 Two of the plaques were made of carnelian and
carried finely carved miniature representations of royal ceremonies; the

29 The comments by T. Hoving in Tutankhamun. The Untold Story (New York, 1978), pp.
136£, about antiquities sales by excavators are badly misjudged, and as far as Petrie’s
transactions over the Lahun Treasure are concerned, far from the mark.

30 O.I. Spiegelberg-Carnarvon Papers.

31 See the editorial article (unattributed) by Alan Gardiner in 3 (1916), pp. 73 f£,

and letters from Carter to Lord Carnarvon at Highclere. The plaques are now in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.

178

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

third was of purplish-brown sard and showed in open-work a female
sphinx, probably an imaginative depiction of the king’s principal wife,
Tiye, holding a cartouche with the prenomen of Amenophis III. In
Carter’s stated opinion, enthusiastically adopted by Carnarvon, these
precious objects probably came from the tomb of the king in the Valley
of the Kings. Some work had been carried out in the mounds of debris
near the entrance to this tomb in early 1912 by Theodore Davis’s team, 52
and it was a reasonable assumption that these plaques were stolen in the
course of this investigation. Carnarvon was delighted with their acquisi-
tion, and wrote enthusiastically to Percy Newberry inviting him to High-
clere Castle, using the plaques as an inducement.”

Like most collectors of works of art, Carnarvon was not averse to
doing a little bit of trading in the course of the hunt for new acquisitions.
It is not clear whether he visited dealers along with Carter, or followed
up leads offered by Carter after he had himself made preliminary sorties.
There was probably no regular pattern in their searching; but there was
certainly encouragement from both sides, and some eagerness on
Carnarvon’s part that Carter should take advantage of his opportunities
to purchase and then sell on his own behalf. He also did the same for
Carnarvon, and Carnarvon himself occasionally shows himself to be an
eager trader. Letters from him to Wallis Budge in the British Museum in
1911— 13 34 suggest that he took some of the initiative himself, offering
one or two Seventeenth-dynasty coffins found in the Birabi and even,
extraordinarily, suggesting that he might be able to buy for the Museum
the sarcophagus of Tuthmosis III. He reports, ‘Carter seems to think
that Maspero would sell it for 1000£.’ Such transactions were proposed,
and in some cases carried through, with a great deal of practicality, but
always spiced with a show of real interest in the objects discussed; they
were not just commodities to be bought and sold.

One person who did not approve of this kind of commerce was
Arthur Weigall, and his presence at Thebes remained a source of discom-
fort, especially to Howard Carter. From his earliest days as Chief

32 An unpublished piece of work, see N. Reeves, Valley of the Kings, p. 320 under Site 39;
the royal tomb is WV 22.

33 G.I. Newberry Corr. 7/107, dated 10 November 1912.

34 The old correspondence files of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities
are kept in the present Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities. I am grateful to the
Trustees of the Museum and to Mr. T. C. Mitchell, former Keeper of Western Asiatic
Antiquities, for permission to consult and quote from them. The letters quoted here
are dated 25 February 1911, 4 February 1912, 14 March 1913.

179

HOWARD CARTER

Inspector in Upper Egypt, Weigall had devoted much of his energies at
Thebes to the cleaning and protection of the private tombs. In 1909 he
began a systematic cataloguing and numbering of these tombs, and was
fortunate in obtaining the co-operation of Alan H. Gardiner, the
outstanding British Egyptological scholar of the younger generation,
who at that time was 30. For three years Gardiner spent several months
annually working with Weigall on this Theban tomb enterprise. 33
Together they spent much time discussing the problems afflicting Egyp-
tian archaeology, particularly in the Theban scene. Weigall was compre-
hensively dismissive of his colleagues, immensely confident in the
rightness of his own views, and desperately eager to retain the support of
Gardiner. He was to leave Thebes for health reasons for some months in
1912, and some time afterwards he sent Gardiner a long letter including
proposals for the regulation of excavations, divisions, and the export of
antiquities. 36 In it he declares, before explaining his scheme:

it is absolutely essential to me that I should in every case have your
approval, for your opinion is the only one I care a damn about, and
you are the only Egyptologist whose views I regard as sane. (That is
perhaps putting it rather too strongly, but you will know what I mean).

In the course of the letter he takes swipes at many targets. He is eager to
reform the practice of the division of antiquities; to reduce the quantities
of antiquities in the Cairo Museum by sales to foreign museums, but
never to private persons; to use the money from such sales to purchase
antiquities in the hands of dealers. On the last he declares, ‘It is hateful to
me always to see the splendid things in dealers shops all going into
private hands or into distant American museums.’ He castigates Maspero
and ‘K’ 37 as Philistines, and is sure that the former will be totally opposed
to what he, Weigall, might propose.

Gardiner, it seems, was not wholly in agreement; he could foresee
problems with the international Egyptological community. But there was
much of Weigall’s exasperation that had rubbed off on him. In a letter of

35 A Topographical Catalogue of the Private Tombs at Thebes , by Gardiner and Weigall, was
published in London in 1913. A Supplement by R. Engelbach was issued by the Antiqui-
ties Service in 1924.

36 G.I. Gardiner Corr. AHG/42.355.14.

37 I. e. Lord Kitchener, who had succeeded Sir Eldon Gorst as Diplomatic Agent in
1911. Other evidence, including one reference in this same letter of Weigall, suggests
that Kitchener was by no means an ally of Maspero ’s.

180

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

4 October 1911, written from the Theban Necropolis to his wife, he
praises extravagantly the work Weigall has been doing to protect the
tombs, and compares his activity most favourably with what happened
previously.* ‘How terribly culpable Maspero and Carter and Newberry
have been!’ After a long discussion with Weigall, ‘We went to bed with
rather gloomy and despairing thoughts!’

It is not surprising, therefore, to find that Carter felt uncomfortable
when visiting Weigall and Gardiner. Problems seem to have started soon
after Carter began working with Carnarvon and was living in his old
Castle Carter I at Medinet Habu. He complained to Newberry in the late
summer of 1909, while he was on holiday in Swaffham: 39

Just had a most unpleasant letter from Weigall wherein he accuses me
of negligence, acting against the interests of the Dept, and has put a
man into the M. H. house. Isn’t it beastly — I shall have to make a fuss
and I don’t like it on account of having to distance [?] from old
Maspero who has been so kind and generous to me — It spoils the
whole pleasure of my returning to Luxor.

In a much longer letter to Newberry, written after his return to Egypt,
Carter continues: 411

Weigall has behaved stupidly. My existence I fear will always be an irri-
tation to him. Why I do not know for my intentions towards him have,
I may say, always been to his welfare than otherwise. I shew [sk] his
letter to Maspero when in Paris. He was disgusted and ever so kind.
Maspero had nothing whatsoever to do with the placing of the man
[name uncertain] or rather boy (not a bad little chap) in the house here.
However I have made the matter right and have now taken him in as a
guest, which in some ways is a bore but on the other hand I wish to
show Maspero my full appreciation for his lending me the house and
not in any way put him in a false position with Weigall.

Weigall I had over here to lunch with Gardiner (who by the way I
am as a man much disappointed with). I gave Weigall a good quiet
talking to in regard to his insinuations and accusations and I think his

38 Letters from Thebes to Gardiner’s wife, now in the possession of their daughter,
Margaret Gardiner, who has generously allowed me to see and to quote from them.

39 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/31, dated 6 September 1909.

40 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/32, of 2 October 1909.

181

HOWARD CARTER

private feelings were somewhat uncomfortable. I have acted and shall
act friendly to him and I told him any time that he had a grievance
against me to come direct and tell me before he came to any conclu-
sions and I hope he will though I rather fear not.

This unfortunate tension, in which Gardiner was involved, continued
until after WeigaU’s final departure from Thebes. Gardiner, although
generally sympathetic to many of Weigall’s views, was a very different
kind of person. Throughout his life he never shirked declaring his posi-
tion in a matter, never hesitating to express Iris views strongly, even if
personal relationships might suffer. His priorities scientifically were
always stated vigorously; he much objected to the explosion of excava-
tion in Egypt in the period before the First World War, believing that ill-
considered or unnecessary excavation was positively harmful. His
training and inclinations led him to place emphasis on the recording and
conservation of those monuments already above ground and in danger
of destruction. It can well be thought that he was not as tactful in his
dealings with Carter as good diplomacy might require: 41

Citoyen Gardiner is still here — the more I see of him the less I like
him, and am even more sure that as far as any real friendship goes he
is not to be trusted. Certainly, living alone as I do often is inducive one
letting the ‘milk curdle’, but for real friends I have never had this
occur. Ever forgive me if I warn you against him. I have already nearly
punched his head for nasty insinuations against my friends.

In this outburst a strong hint of the kind of malaise that affects members
of excavation teams may be detected, even though Carter and Gardiner
did not meet on a daily basis. In a sense Thebes was one excavation site,
widely spread and not at all coherent, but with much coming and going
between the members of the various component missions. It is, there-
fore, good to be able to anticipate the considerable scholarly co-opera-
tion which developed between Carter and Gardiner in the years to come
and, later, Carter’s turning to Gardiner for specialized help when
Tutankhamun’s tomb was found.

The difficulty over the Medinet Habu house, whatever it might have
been, was resolved in the winter of 1910-11. Carter had by then been
working for Carnarvon for two seasons, and it must have become clear

41 Letter to Newberry of 27 October 1911, G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/35.

182

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

to both that there was to be a future in their association. It has been
commonly stated, by Carter himself initially, 42 that from the start of this
association the ultimate aim was to obtain the concession to work in the
Valley of the Kings. A gesture in the direction of putting down roots in
Thebes, presumably with an eye to future work, was the building by
Carter of Castle Carter II. It was designed by himself along vernacular
lines - solid, roomy, four-square, with a central hall with a dome. Its situ-
ation was unusual and striking, set on a hill named Elwat el-Diban, to the
north end of Dra Abu el-Naga and at the entrance to the rocky wadi
leading to the Valley of the Kings. It was conspicuously sited, and may
have derived some of its inspiration in design from the house which
Somers Clarke had built for himself, close to the Nile at Elkab. In this
new house was a visible commitment for the future, even a hostage to
fortune, and in its building he was encouraged by Carnarvon and signifi-
cantly helped, possibly financially but certainly practically. At that time
the Carnarvon family owned an estate and mansion at Bretby in Derby-
shire, and at Newhall, near Burton-on-Trent, a brickworks. In 1910 a
large number of bricks was made with the impressed inscription: 41

MADE AT BRETBY
ENGLAND

FOR HOWARD CARTER
A.D. THEBES 1910

These bricks, surviving examples of which show that they were of a red
fabric, but with a blackened surface, were surely used in the construction
of the house Elwat e’Diban, as Carter called it on his letter heading. It
must be supposed that they represented a donation towards the building;
Carter could have used locally made bricks - in those days most probably
sun-dried only, not baked - but the house could not have been so solidly

42 E.g. The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , I, p. 75.

43 I am grateful to Mr P. M. White of the Church Cresly Historical Record Group for
first drawing my attention to these bricks, and for pointing out the Carnarvon connec-
tion. Examples of the bricks survive in Staffordshire and at Highclere Castle. Exten-
sive investigations in the winter of 1990—1 by Dr Peter Piccione of the Oriental
Institute Expedition at Chicago House, Luxor, failed to discover any certain evidence
that such bricks were used in Carter’s house; but he was not able to make a full exami-
nation of the walls and the foundations of the house. I am grateful to him for his
efforts. See also addenda below.

183

HOWARD CARTER

constructed. In a sense also Carter was aping his Pharaonic predecessors
at Thebes who built their structures of bricks stamped with their names.

Established in his new home early in 1911, Carter could at last feel
that he was firmly based, and this state he largely owed to the Earl of
Carnarvon. In no time he would be receiving guests; there was much to
be admired. ‘Carter has built himself a delightful house at north end of
the necropolis and moves into it soon’ (Weigall); 44 ‘Theo and I had a
charming afternoon with Mr. Carter in his new house — so well built and
arranged and pretty - it looked like the abode of an artist and a scholar’
(Mrs Andrews); 45 ‘By noon we had reached the new house that Carter
had built for himself . . . and, it being very warm, we determined to call
upon Carter and take drinks off him. I was glad to have an opportunity
of looking over his house, which is quite delightful; simple mud walls,
not rendered conspicuous by any plaster; very little furniture, but what
there is artistic. In the middle is a little domed hall quite in the ancient
Arabic style. Carter seems well, but has a dreadful greenish colour; he is
quite sociable and decent towards us, and in a way I am always quite
pleased to have his company’ (Gardiner). 46

After the publication of Fine Years’ Explorations at Thebes, the spirit to
continue excavating in the Theban concession dimmed somewhat. Work
in the Birabi district of the Asasif involved large numbers of men and a
great deal of hard work, the results from which tended to be repeated -
Ptolemaic vault tombs on top, and pit and corridor tombs of die late
Middle Kingdom to early Eighteenth Dynasty below. The latter were filled
with coffins of the Second Intermediate Period and later periods, with only
a little additional material of interest. As in the tombs discovered earlier in
the area, destruction by robbers and by white ants rendered much of what
was found irrecoverable. It was very frustrating work, yielding progres-
sively less in the way of material dividends on Lord Carnarvon’s invest-
ment. Still, the concession could not be abandoned, for if it were to be left,
the chances for a switch to the Valley of die Kings would be less than
promising. Tenacity in sticking to an unexciting excavation is always
thought to be meritorious, and may sometimes result in an unexpectedly
good outcome — as Carter himself was to demonstrate ten years later.

There was, however, the possibility of diversification. Now that the
employment of Carter seemed to be on a firm footing, and he was well

44 G.I. Gardiner Corr. AHG/42.355.21, dated 10 January 1911.

45 Metropolitan Museum transcript, for 19 February 1911.

46 Gardiner letter of 4 October 1911, in the possession of Margaret Gardiner.

184

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

settled as a man of property at Thebes, excavation need not be limited to
the two or three months in the early part of the year when conditions at
Thebes were drought to be best. In considering a second concession,
Carnarvon hoped for a site that would be likely to produce material of a
kind more distinguished than he had been finding at Thebes. His first
choice, based on Carter’s advice, was Dahshur, a place at the southern end
of the great desert necropolis of Memphis, where there were two great
pyramids of the Fourth Dynasty, and others, less dramatic in size, of the
Twelfth Dynasty. Jacques de Morgan had dug there in 1894—5, while he was
Director-General of the Antiquities Service, and had made spectacular
discoveries. It was commonly understood that the site was reserved for
official excavations, but Carnarvon was convinced that he could persuade
Maspero to allow him to work there. There was no shifting Maspero,
however, and Carnarvon’s assault on his opposition continued until 1913.
Maspero ’s objections rested on a supposed law, suggested by Lord Cromer
in 1904—5, reserving the pyramid fields of Dahshur, Saqqara and Abusir for
official excavation. Maspero had further claimed that if Carnarvon were
allowed a concession at Dahshur he could not refuse permission to other
applicants. Carnarvon and Carter were not impressed by the arguments: 4,
the law’ had never been promulgated, but was used by the Antiquities
Service as a reason for applying for extra funds to work on these sites. In
addition they maintained that the Service would never have enough money
to excavate adequately there. The matter resulted in a serious deterioration
in the previously good relations that had existed between Maspero and
Carnarvon. It is piquant to find Carnarvon (but perhaps not Carter) lining
up in a sense behind Weigall in opposition to Maspero. In a letter to Budge,
he even seems to suggest a possible high-level intrigue against Maspero: 48

At the present moment the Daschur business is in a very unpleasant
state as far as regards (this is entirely between ourselves) [something
missing, perhaps ‘Maspero’] but I am pretty sure that if I don’t get it
Maspero will be more or less forced to resign by indirect methods —
Please do not mention all this. I had a great passage of arms with the
Professor [i.e. Maspero] yesterday. I was pretending to be very angry.
Old Brugsch came to the door lifted his hands to Heaven and bolted
. . . K [i.e. Kitchener] is very set against Maspero.

47 Carnarvon’s and Carter’s views are set out in a draft memorandum in MMA, Depart-
ment of Egyptian Art, Carter Papers.

48 Letter of 20 March 1913 in Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities, British Museum.

185

HOWARD CARTER

It was a sad thing that after many years of devoted and inspiring
service in the management of Egypt’s antiquities, Maspero and his
regime were attracting so much diverse criticism. Even Alan Gardiner, a
one-time pupil of his in Paris, someone who no doubt had been affected
in his views by too much talk with Arthur Weigall, but who was more
than capable of judging an issue and of making up his own mind inde-
pendendy, now found it hard even to mix socially with Maspero. Writing
to his wife, he explains how he felt: 49

Maspero has been here for a few days and I felt I must come over to
pay him a call. As a matter of fact I met him just as I arrived at the
Nile, so turned back with him and rode with him as far as the temple
of Gurna. He was very kind as usual, but as usual I felt the utter hope-
lessness of ever persuading him to do anything from enthusiasm for
the science. Not he! He belongs to those who believe that to do
anything at all for any other reasons than 1) self-interest 2) pleasing
people of influence or 3) a general courtesy is the sign of a fool. Well,
it may be so, but I’d rather be a fool in that case.

The Director-General of the Antiquities Service, to be any kind of
success, had always to balance and trim, to please the politicians, satisfy
the needs of the employees of the Service, content foreign colleagues,
wheedle dealers, and, above all, protect the monuments. Maspero had
been immensely successful for his first term (1881—6), and for most of
his second term (from 1899). In 1913 he was 67, and the next year he
resigned, ostensibly for health reasons, and returned to France. He died
in 1916. His successor as Director-General of the Antiquities Service was
Pierre Lacau, Director of the French Institute in Cairo, a very sound
scholar. The appointment was generally welcomed, and for his first years,
which coincided with the First World War, his task was not complicated
by conflicting demands from excavators. He was also on war service for
part of the time. The pleasure at having a new Director-General who was
scrupulous, courteous and less partial to blandishment survived into the
post-war period; but things were to change, and ultimately the great cata-
lyst of change was to be the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. The
disillusion which would then envelop Lacau, and for many years discredit
him in the eyes of many of his colleagues, was not quite the same as that
which afflicted Maspero in his last years. Yet the essential difficulty for

49 Letter of 20 January 1913 in the possession of Margaret Gardiner.

186

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

both Lacau and Maspero was the reconciling of the various requirements
of the job of Director-General. It is a theme to be followed again later in
the history of Howard Carter’s career in Egypt.

While the struggle for Dahshur continued, there were other possibilities,
and on Carter’s advice Carnarvon decided to test a Delta site. In so doing
he would again, consciously or by chance, be following the view expressed
to Gardiner by Weigall. The many huge and neglected town-sites in Lower
Egypt were in grave danger from indiscriminate illicit digging, and from
the activities of the sebbakhin. Carter had met and locally dealt with some of
the problems when he was briefly Chief Inspector there in 1 905; but it was
a surprise to find him recommending work in that region. Experience had
shown that digging conditions might be difficult, and that returns could be
disappointing. But it was necessary to convince the Antiquities Service that
the intentions and practices of the Carnarvon operations, directed by
Carter, were honourable, serious and efficient. The bait of the concession
for the Valley of the Kings still dangled before them.

The choice of site for excavation in 1912 was the ancient city of Xois
in the central Delta, identified as the capital of the sixth Lower Egyptian
nome (province); its Arabic name is Sakha. 3 " The reasons for the choice
are not known, but it may be supposed that Percy Newberry had an
important hand in suggesting it. At this time he was engaged in writing a
series of articles on early cults, many of which had Delta connections. At
Xois there might be a chance of striking early strata and finding much
new information. The place was also known to have been the centre of
the minor royalties classified traditionally as the Fourteenth Dynasty
(very approximately 1750-1600 BC), of whom no archaeological traces
had survived. The mound at Sakha was huge and apparently promising.
Carnarvon applied for a permit in the autumn of 1911 and hoped that
work could start in late March 1912. A good description of the site was
sent to Carnarvon by Carter rather later when it was clear that nothing
could be done until April-May: 51

It is a mound about 80ft in height and covering some 80 feddans [the
feddan being a little larger than an acre]. It has been considerably dug into
for Sabakh more especially the north part, and in the centre within what
appears to be a large square enclosure or temenos wall of mud brick. To
the S. the private dwellings have not been so much touched and S. of

50 For a recent account of Xois, see P. Vernus in / .exikon der sigyptologie, 6, col. 1302ff.

51 G.I. Newberry Corr. 49/3.

187

HOWARD CARTER

them again, is a large area partially cleared to the Older Egyptian level.
On a smaller portion of this area (S-E) is a modern Arab cemetery and
mosque — the latter standing on a slightly higher level and built upon a
fine Graeco-Roman mosaic floor. This end appears to be the more
interesting and where results would be, I think, more easily obtainable.

After further notes on other parts of the site, he concludes:

Sakha though a heavy site to work certainly looks promising and from
its geographical position should be an important one. To obtain any
fair result a good months work should be at least required.

Of all the places dug by Carter for Carnarvon, Sakha/Xois was the
least well recorded, and very disappointing in results. It was the kind of
place to which Carnarvon and his entourage were not immediately
drawn. At Sakha he would not be able to install himself in a comfortable
hotel from which he could issue at a respectable hour in the morning, and
to which he could return in the evening with the prospect of a bath and a
good dinner in pleasing surroundings. In planning the Sakha dig he
outlined some of his requirements to Newberry.^ 2 There would be seven
people in the main party: Lady Carnarvon, Lord Carnarvon, Newberry,
Carter, Lady Carnarvon’s maid, Lord Carnarvon’s servant, Dr Johnson
(his personal physician). Each of these would need a tent. Then there
would be two living tents, and WC tents, a bathroom, kitchen, etc.; also
Egyptian domestic servants, cook, washer-up. It would cost a fair amount
of money; ‘y ou must remember I pay Carter £200 per mensem’. On the
last point one must assume that this rate of pay would probably only
apply when Carter was ‘on duty’ in the field; nevertheless, in a full year
that might amount to four or five months, in all near £1000 per annum —
not an insignificant salary for 1911. It is not clear whether the whole of
the proposed party in the end went to Sakha. What is clear is that the
conditions on the site were so disagreeable, with large numbers of snakes
supplementing the general physical difficulties, that only about two
weeks’ work was carried out, apparently inconclusive and unproductive.

It might be thought that the idea of digging a large Delta site for a
short period would have been discredited by the Sakha experience. On
the contrary; with the possibility of Dahshur virtually abandoned, Carter
chose to investigate another huge town mound, that of Tell el-Balamun,

52 Letter of 13 December 1911, G.I. Newberry Corr. 7/97.

188

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

a remote place in the northern Delta, not far from the Mediterranean
Sea. With fewer expectations than in previous years, Carter managed a
much more successful season. Carnarvon certainly planned to join him
for a part of the time, but it is not certain whether he felt fit enough to
make another foray into the Delta. Writing to Budge on 14 March he
catalogues his troubles: 53 ‘I finished up at Luxor yesterday in a blaze of
disaster, found really nothing and was in bed for the last week a sort of
influenza bronchitis altogether a dreadful fiasco.’ And later in the same
letter, ‘I think I go to Diospolis next week or so but the weather is icy so
far.’ From an account of the work at Balamun which Carter sent to Mrs
Newberry, there is no hint that Carnarvon was with him; 54 but photo-
graphs in Oxford indicate a large excavation camp and Carnarvon’s pres-
ence, for a short time at least:

Here at Ballaman I am making an experimental dig to endeavour to
find out something about it. It certainly must have been an exceedingly
important place. Certainly the largest in the neighbourhood. And I
think there can be little doubt that it was ‘Diospolis Parva’. The
modern name suggests that it is a contraction of Bellad Amon (town
of Amon) which seems in favour of the conjecture. 53 But up to the
present I have been able to find but little the ground being so hard and
difficult to work. Still, from the fact of it being untouched, one is able
to get a good idea of the place and general formation of the ancient
town and temple buildings. At present I am making investigations in
what I believe to be the Palace. The Temple unfortunately is so low
that almost at once we reach water and slimy mud.

For camping it is very nice. We are in among the reeds and bull-
rushes where it swarms with warblers and other small birds. But bad
for mosquitoes. It is beautifully \sic\ and cool even though at Cairo and
still more in Upper Egypt there is great heat.

53 Letter in Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities, British Museum.

54 Letter of 18 April 1913, G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/43.

55 The classical name for this place was in fact Diospolis Inferior. Diospolis Parva was in
Upper Egypt at modern Hu, between Luxor and Dendera. The name Balamun most
probably derives from the ancient Pa-iu-en-Amun, ‘The island of Amun’, see J. Malek
in Lexikon der Agvptologie, 6, col. 31 9f. The false etymology ‘Town of Amun’ was a
reasonable idea when Carter was at the place. Excavations at Balamun were started in
1991 by the British Museum, and are continuing (2000).

189

HOWARD CARTER

I shall remain here unless great finds encourage one to remain
longer, until the end of the month. Then I shall return to Luxor for
May and trust to return to England by the first week of June.

Another letter to Mrs Newberry, written from Elwat eLDiban on 17
May, gives more concrete news: 56 “We were on the whole most fortunate
in Balaman. And I have I think been able to identify the town as Pa-
khen-n-Amen. We also got some jewellery.’

Results at Tell el-Balamun were indeed better than at Sakha; the jewel-
lery, of rather low-grade silver with a fairly intricate design, was found in
a large pottery jar. There were also a few other small objects and a frag-
ment of a statue which until 1987 was only known from Carter’s notes
and a drawing in his record of the excavation preserved in the archives of
the Griffith Institute, Oxford. Many of the Balamun objects, including
the statue fragment, were among the antiquities which were rediscovered
at Highclere Castle in that year. The inscription on the statue provides
the alternative name for the site, Sambehdet — an important piece of
confirmatory evidence. Carnarvon had taken the fragment to show
Budge in the British Museum, possibly with the intention of leaving it
there. Subsequently he had second thoughts, and wrote to Budge:’ 7
Amongst the tilings I gave you the other day is a small piece of broken
stone. I don’t think it is of any use to you but it is my chief record of
Balaman. Would you put it by — there are some hieroglyphs on it I think.’
It was worth recovering, as the only piece of textual evidence found that
year at Tell el-Balamun.

There would be no return to the Delta after the close of the short
Balamun season. Developments in odrer directions were to determine the
future of Carnarvon’s operations with Carter. Although work continued
for one more season in the Theban concession, it was not pursued widr
much enthusiasm, and thereafter excavation in the Asasif district would be
carried out entirely by the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. Howard Carter gladly handed over to Ambrose Lansing,
the director of the Metropolitan’s Theban dig, the sketched-out report he
had written on his work there since 1911 — a kind of continuation in the

56 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/44. The name used by Carter, Pa-khen-n-Amen, is an old
misreading of the name Pa-iu-en-Amun: see last note, and J. Malek in Rev. d’Eg. 36
(1985), pp. 181ff.

57 Undated letter filed in the 1913 correspondence in Department of Western Asiatic
Antiquities, British Museum; from its position in the file, probably late November or
early December.

190

FIVE YEARS’ EXPLORATIONS AT THEBES

same style of the narrative of Five Years’ Explorations at Tbebes. 5& There was,
no doubt, relief in disengaging from the somewhat irksome, repetitive,
excavation of the Birabi, especially as the far brighter prospect of the Valley
of the Kings now lay ahead. The concession for the Valley had been held
by Theodore Davis, in formal fashion, since 1905, although he had
financed work there since 1902 , 59 His success had been remarkable,
marked regularly by the discovery of nine royal tombs, and one non-royal,
but virtually intact, burial - that of Yuia and Tjuiu, parents of Queen Tiye,
the wife of King Amenophis III. In his later seasons, however, no tomb of
major importance had been found, and Davis believed that the Valley in
this respect was exhausted. Maspero also believed the same to be the case.
Carter was not convinced, and he was able to persuade Lord Carnarvon
that there were possibilities of further undiscovered royal tombs, just
waiting for the excavator with the right eye, the right instincts, and suffi-
cient persistence. It is not clear for how long he had cherished the wish to
work again in the Valley. In the first volume of his Tutankhamun publica-
tion he briefly outlined his early work in Thebes with Lord Carnarvon,
claiming that from the outset they had hoped for a concession in the
Valley. 60 That may indeed be so. Carter had achieved some good success in
the Valley working with Davis’s financial backing in 1902—4. But while
Davis continued working, with other professional collaborators, there was
no chance for Carnarvon and Carter. The best drey could do was to make
their wishes known clearly to Maspero, so that they could step in and take
over when Davis surrendered his rights. This Davis was to do after his
unprofitable season in the spring of 1914; he was then 77 and a sick man.

In June of 1914 at last Carnarvon was granted the concession. It was
possibly not quite as exciting a moment for him as for Carter. He was
surrendering one concession which for him had ceased to yield results
enough to maintain his interest; he was taking over a concession which
had been relinquished by Davis for much the same reason. It would be
many years before the success of a great discovery would come; but in
the meanwhile there would be some minor excitements, and some useful
discoveries made within the constraints of war-time conditions. There
had already been a start to their ‘royal’ campaign in the spring of 1914.

58 A file containing this ‘report’ is now in the Metropolitan Museum.

59 An outline of the Davis excavations from 1902 to 1914 is conveniently given in C. N.
Reeves, The Valley of the Kings (London, 1990), Appendix B, pp. 292f£ A copy of his
first contract of work in 1905 is reproduced on pp. 331 ff.

60 Carter and Mace, The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , I, pp. 75 f. See also p. 248 below.

191

ROYAL TOMBS AND
THE GREAT WAR

Carter returned to Thebes in the autumn of 1913 after a busy leave in
England. It was now for him a pleasure to travel south from Cairo with
the comfortable assurance of having decent employment and a line house
to come back to. One may, perhaps, vicariously enjoy with him the
gradual approach to Casde Carter II: the drive from Luxor railway station
to the river, accompanied no doubt by some faithful servant, perhaps
Abd eLAal Ahmed, who would in advance have arranged for a ferry boat
to take his master and his baggage across the Nile to the west bank; then
by horse or donkey, a journey of about two miles through the lush culti-
vation, to the stony foothills of the Theban Necropolis; finally, along the
road beside the remains of the royal funerary temples, past the entrance
to the Asasif, the Deir el-Bahri valley, scene of Carter’s most recent
Theban excavations, and the hill of Dra Abu el-Naga, to the wide rocky
wadi leading to the Valley of the Kings. Here, almost immediately, on the
hill of Elwat el-Diban, on the east side of the wadi, rises the domed
house, waiting for its owner, with his dog Gaggia straining to greet him.
The sight of Gaggia would have been a special pleasure, for terrible
things could happen to one’s pets, necessarily left behind during the long,
hot, summer months. Carter did not, as was earlier indicated, have much
luck with his animals. In 1909 he had come back to ‘Soggy (my little
dog)’, who sent love by letter to the Newberrys’ Timmy. 1 Soggy had gone
to an unrecorded fate by 1913, and Gaggia, her replacement, was in good
fettle at first. Unfortunately, as Carter reported, 2 ‘now she is suffering
from mange caught from a fox she slayed a week or so back. I am having
a lot of trouble trying to cure her — I find paraffin the only thing of use.’

1 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/32, letter of 2 October 1909.

2 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/50, of 15 December 1913.

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ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

The excitement of the coming season was to be one which Howard
Carter had been saving up for a suitable time in the programme of the
Carnarvon excavations. It was to be the clearing and investigation of the
tomb which Carter was convinced had been made for King Amenophis I
of the early-Eighteenth Dynasty ( c . 1525—1504 BC), and his mother,
Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. From ancient records, especially the official
report of the investigation of tomb-robberies contained in the Abbott
Papyrus in the British Museum, it was highly likely that the tomb of this
king lay outside the Valley of the Kings. When it had been examined in
about 1116 BC, the sixteenth year of King Ramesses IX of the Twentieth
Dynasty, it was found intact, or at least reported as such, although it had
been stated to have been violated. Carter had been interested in trying to
find this tomb after his early work in the Valley of the Kings on the some-
what later Eighteenth-Dynasty tomb of Tuthmosis IV, and the one which
contained the sarcophagi inscribed for Tuthmosis I and Hatshepsut.
After the clearance of the second of these tombs - an exceptionally labo-
rious task — in the spring of 1 904, he had interested Lord Amherst in the
search for the tomb of Amenophis I. 3 It may be recalled that he had
spoken to Amherst in 1903 about Iris intentions, and he made a firm
proposal in a letter to Lady Amherst in March 1904. No positive indica-
tions at drat time seem to have provided die stimulus for his investiga-
tion, but it would be a mistake to discount the possibility that he had been
shown something — an inscribed fragment of an antiquity, perhaps — or
been told of some suggestive discovery by the squirrel-like free-lancers of
the Necropolis villages. Nothing came of that early attempt, and it ended
when he was transferred north in the fall of the year.

A few years later, Arthur Weigall confidently identified an empty tomb
high in the hills at the deepest, southern, end of the Valley of the Kings,
as the tomb of Amenophis I. 4 His evidence was chiefly geographical and
circumstantial, based on the indications in the Abbott Papyrus. He found
no ancient fragments with confirmatory texts upon them. Although
some scholars have subsequently accepted Weigall’s identification, most
recent studies have rejected it, and it is certain that Howard Carter was
unconvinced. 3 As far as he was concerned, his scepticism was to be fully
justified within two years of Weigall’s publication of his chosen tomb.
Carter describes the events leading to his own discovery in one of his

3 See p. 1 07 above.

4 Guide to the Antiquities of Upper Egypt (London, 1910), p. 223; A..S.A..E, 11 (1911), p. 174.

5 C. N. Reeves, The Valley of the Kings (London, 1990), pp. 3ff.

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HOWARD CARTER

autobiographical sketches preserved in the Griffith Institute in Oxford. 6
It all began one evening in the late spring of 1912, while he was taking
the air, seated on a bench in front of his new house. He paints a charac-
teristically colourful, somewhat overblown, word picture of the setting:

I was giving myself up to pleasant fits of musing while watching the
serenity of nature. It was one of those beautiful warm evenings when
everything seems to sink into repose. The setting sun had shed its rich
yellow beams over the landscape. In the distance the tips of white
lateen sails slowly winding down the river were visible through the
palm-trees amid an expanse of green. The Arabian desert opposite,
beyond the fertile valley, had assumed opalescent tints. Her distant
hills vested in purple and tipped with a mellow tinge of gold were
gradually melting into space. The evening was fast closing. From
behind one was beginning to be conscious of a faint quivering breeze
that was stealing down from the hills of the Libyan Range; when far
away across the broken tract of desert between my house and the
fertile plain, the figure of a man was slowly approaching.

Carter recognized his visitor as Gad Hassan, who lived in one of the
villages nearby, and ‘who had taken up the profession of tomb-plun-
dering’. He had brought Carter a basketful of fragments of alabaster
vessels, some of which bore the names of Amenophis I and of his
mother Ahmose-Nefertari. Carter was reminded of two similar frag-
ments he had acquired some years before, which he had either given or
sold to Theodore Davis. These earlier fragments might have provided
the spur for his 1904 attempt to find the tomb for Lord Amherst; the
temporal indications given by Carter suggest that he obtained his two
pieces rather later than 1904, but in matters of this kind, Carter’s indica-
tions tend to be unreliable. 7 With some skill he persuaded Gad Hassan to
produce a few more fragments and, after offering to purchase them, he
further persuaded him to take him to the source. On the following day
the negotiations for the purchase of the fragments, and for some initial
compensation for revealing the site of the tomb, were completed.
Carter’s account is long and colourful, and perhaps a little elaborated in
hindsight to make his narrative more ‘literary’; but there is no reason to
doubt that he knew exactly how to negotiate with the essentially

6 G.I. Carter Notebook 17, Sketch XI.

7 Said to be 1907 in Carter Notebook 17, p. 200; see also J.E.A. 3 (1916), p. 151, n. 1.

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ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

distrustful and suspicious villager of the Theban Necropolis, and how to
exploit such confidences as he might inspire, using promises, cajolery
and just enough money to achieve his purpose.

Gad Hassan led him down from his house, across the little valley to
the hill of Dra Abu el-Naga, and by way of a small and rocky wadi known
as Khawi el-Alamat, to a deserted high point well above the Deir el-Bahri
valley. There he showed Carter the entrance to a tomb beneath a great
over-hanging rock. In the afternoon of the same day Carter returned to
the spot with a few men and tackle, and began a preliminary investiga-
tion. What he found was both exciting and depressing - a tomb
consisting of an entrance shaft, a corridor with two side-chambers, a
protective well (choked with debris), and a further corridor leading to a
large burial chamber with two pillars. It was, to his mind, very much what
could be expected for an early Eighteenth-dynasty sepulchre. Very little
remained of identifiable funerary equipment:

Every remnant of old grandeur and divinity had gone. Woefully
gnawed by time and in parts shattered by violence, it now served as a
haunt for owls and bats. The walls were sullen and black from fires lit
by its dynastic desecrators. The charred remains of its equipment were
but evidence of base minds that had wrought revenge upon the illus-
trious dead.

From this provisional investigation Carter could see that the tomb had
suffered comprehensive destruction in antiquity, many centuries before
the modern sifting of the debris by Gad Hassan and his collaborators. If
it had been the tomb prepared for King Amenophis I and his mother,
then its modern condition could hardly have been other than what had
been found. The Abbott Papyrus reported it as being intact, but the
inspection in the reign of Ramesses IX might have been rather cursory.
Certainly the mummy of Amenophis and possibly that of Ahmose-
Nefertari, were included in the assemblage of royal bodies found in the
Deir el-Bahri cache in 1881. 8 Nevertheless, a tomb pillaged for precious
items in antiquity, but cluttered with rubble and rain-washed silt, was
always worth careful clearance, and this is what Carter determined to
carry out at some later date after he had consulted the Earl of
Carnarvon.

8 See now J. E. Harris and E. F. Wente, An X-Ray Atlas of the Royal Mummies (Chicago,
1980), pp. 239£, and passim.

195

HOWARD CARTER

The occasion came in the spring of 1914, and the clearance of the
tomb became the last piece of work undertaken by Carnarvon and Carter
before the outbreak of the First World War in August of that year. It was
also, in a sense, a trial run for the taking over of Theodore Davis’s
concession to excavate in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb identified by
Carter as that of Amenophis I and Ahmose-Nefertari lay some distance
from the royal valley, and just marginally within Carnarvon’s old conces-
sionary area, which included the hill of Dra Abu el-Naga. The site was
situated higher on the hill than the slopes where the earlier kings of the
Seventeenth Dynasty had been buried - tombs that had been thoroughly
robbed in ancient times for the most part. One collection of splendid
jewellery had been found many years earlier by the agents of Auguste
Mariette, founder of the Antiquities Service. It had belonged to Queen
Ahhotpe, the mother of Arnosis, first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty,
and mother-in-law of Ahmose-Nefertari. Carter had become very
familiar with this collection of jewellery at the turn of the century when
he had been asked to make the illustrations of many of the precious
objects for the splendid publication put out in 1900 by the German
Egyptologist Friedrich Freiherr von Bissing. He was therefore well
aware that fine things could be overlooked by the diligent tomb robbers,
ancient and modern; by implication the clearance of even a well robbed
tomb might yield material of great interest.

Operations began in late February after Carnarvon had joined Carter
in Thebes. Carter still had some doubts about whether the tomb was just
that of the queen, and not of both king and queen. A difficulty was
presented by the location of the tomb, stated fairly specifically in the
Abbott Papyrus. Carnarvon wrote to Budge in the British Museum
where the papyrus was preserved. 1 " The letter is interesting in that it
shows a degree of care and a tendency to research which may surprise
some students of excavation practice of the time. The letter was written
from the Savoy Hotel in Cairo, which had been recommended to
Carnarvon by Carter for his 1913 stay as being a little more economical
than other, more usual haunts. Carnarvon claims the discovery of the
tomb for himself, maintaining the convention that any find of Carter’s
was a find of his own:

9 See p. 97 above.

10 Letter of Carnarvon to Budge of 13 March 1914, in Department of Western Asiatic

Antiquities, British Museum.

11 Letter of Carter to Carnarvon of 6 December 1912, at Highclere Castle.

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ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

I believe I really have found the Tomb of Amenhotep I, at all events a
great deal of inscribed stone and as its being a Royal Tomb there is no
possible doubt. Could you get one of your underlings to copy the
passage in the Abbott Papyrus (about A 1st) in the hieroglyph and if
you could just add the translation it would be very kind, I imagine it is
only a few lines, but I want very particularly the various signs such as
the determinative of a the [sic] tomb (is it A or ?). 12 All this will
help a good deal. It will take a month to work out so I shall not finish
it off just at once.

The problem of reconciling the actual position of the tomb under
excavation with the indications in the papyrus is not one to be seriously
considered here. It should, however, be said that Carter did not avoid the
issue, and produced a solution for the article he wrote on the clearance
of the tomb which is ingenious, but not very persuasive. 13 He thought
initially that the tomb might have been only for the queen, and this view
has certainly been more acceptable to many scholars than his later,
preferred, idea of the double tomb. The problem continues to interest
students of the Theban Necropolis, and there is no doubt that further
views will be suggested from time to time, and will continue to do so
until the unequivocal discovery of a tomb cut for Amenophis himself is
made. 14 That could be never; for Carter’s identification remains highly
likely.

The yield of objects from the excavation was disappointing. Carter’s
later account sums up his conclusion very succinctly: 13

The results were small, but sufficient, I think, to reconstruct the main
outline of its history. . . . Indeed the disproportion between the work
and the results was singularly disconcerting. So let it suffice me to say
that there was no waste of time. The clearance was systematic: begin-
ning from outside the entrance-shaft and ending in the innermost
chamber. Each basket of rubbish as it came up was sifted for what it
might contain. . . . All that was left of the original equipment were
debris of stone-vessels and statuettes wrought in alabaster (calcite),

12 The question is not quite properly framed. The signs in question are

horizon of eternity’, a synonym for a royal tomb. Carnarvon’s second
option is closer to the mark. The reference is to BM 10221, page 2, 1. 2.

13 J.EVl. 3 (1916), pp. 147ff.

14 C. N. Reeves, Valley of the Kings , p. 5.

15 G.I. Carter Notebook 17, p. 315ff.

197

HOWARD CARTER

green felspar, white and yellow limestone, a red conglomerate, serpen-
tine and basalt.

The few and small fragmentary antiquities, some of which pointed to a
possible usage of the tomb in the late New Kingdom (Third Interme-
diate Period), are now to be found in the Carnarvon Collection in High-
clere Castle. They were not drought to be distinguished enough to be
included by Carter in the main collection which was purchased by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art after the fifth Earl’s death in 1923. 16
Although the material returns from the clearance of the tomb of Amen-
ophis I and Ahmose-Nefertari were slight, the actual discovery and
reasonably certain identification of the owners were of considerable
importance, and could rightly be regarded by Carnarvon and Carter as
well worth the effort and expense. The operations were also, as has been
suggested, a preliminary run for tire possibly imminent campaign in the
Valley of the Kings proper.

At the end of the 1914 season, however, there was no sure sign that
Theodore Davis was about to give up his rights in the Valley. A plan for
the future had already been discussed between Carnarvon and Carter,
and the immediate intention was to move north to Hawara near the
point where the Bahr Yusuf offshoot of the Nile passed into the Faiyum
depression. Here Ammenemes III, one of the most influential kings of
the Twelfth Dynasty (c. 1844-1797 BC), had been buried in a great
pyramid attached to which was a vast complex of funerary buildings,
known and wondered at by visitors to Egypt in the Graeco-Roman
Period. 1 It was at that time known as the Labyrinth on account of the
size and complexity of its structure. Here Flinders Petrie had excavated
in 1888-9, and again in 1910-11, but he had by no means exhausted the
site, or even tested comprehensively its whole area. The Americans of
the Metropolitan Museum were meanwhile demonstrating amply what
care and persistence could achieve at the almost contemporary pyramid
site at El-Lisht about 30 miles to the north of Hawara. Carter felt confi-
dent that there was much more to be found and he prepared to apply for
the site for the coming season. In a letter written to Percy Newberry on
30 April 1914, the Earl of Carnarvon suggested that the recent excava-
tion at Thebes had been ‘somewhat of a disappointment’ for Carter, who
had, however, found an assistant for the next season. ‘I hear Steindorff is

16 C. N. Reeves, Ancient Egypt at High clere Castle (Highclere, 1989), p. 27.

17 Lexikon der Agyptologie, 2, col. 1072f.

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ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

giving up Hawara, so I think we shall take it.’ 18 Georg Steindorff
Professor of Egyptology at Leipzig, and an active field-worker as well as
an outstanding Coptic scholar, had been working for some years in
Nubia, and had presumably applied to work at Hawara subsequently.
With his surrendering his claim on the site the way was clear for the
British team to step in.

There would be some caution in Carter’s negotiations to secure
Hawara. It was not so long since Dahshur had been refused, and it would
not have done to suffer another rejection. Things were changing,
however: 1914 saw Maspero’s departure from the office of Director-
General. In spite of Carnarvon’s extreme displeasure at failing to get
Dahshur, there is no reason to think that he played any significant part in
Maspero’s departure. He had done his best to persuade Kitchener that
Maspero needed to be pushed into compliance with his wishes, but
Kitchener seemed unwilling to use his influence. There was probably
serious misjudgement on Carnarvon’s part of what could be achieved by
pulling strings. Carter had written to Carnarvon in November 1 9 1 2 : 1 9 ‘If
K. of K. [i.e. Kitchener of Khartoum] is keen on your having the site, I
think there can be little danger from Maspero beyond a splutter of fire at
first.’ A month later he wrote: ‘I think perhaps it best to let it stand until
you come — See Kitchener and if you can interest him then go for
Maspero.’ Already, however, there was a doubt about Kitchener’s
support, for Carter had written in late November of the same year: 2 "
‘Greg of the Embassy is staying for a time at the Winter Palace. He tells
me that Kitchener is not very keen on Egyptian stuff:’

In the case of Hawara they might not have to suffer the same set-back
— a real humiliation for Carnarvon; but a slow approach to the in-coming
Director-General, Pierre Lacau, might be advisable. Ultimately tactics
were of no account, for the outbreak of the Great War (as it used to be
called) in August 1914 put paid to any serious activity for British expedi-
tions in Egypt. In any case the Valley of the Kings was now the cherished
prize, recently won. The future was without a doubt very uncertain. It
should be remembered, on the other hand, that at the outset of the war
expectations were highly optimistic - ‘home by Christmas!’ was the

18 G.I. Newberry Corr. 7/108.

1 9 Letter at Highclere Castle.

20 Letter at Highclere Castle. Robert Greg was at the time Second Secretary at the British
Agency in Cairo. Subsequently he was in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and
in 1929 became the British Commissioner for the Egyptian Debt. He was President of
the Egypt Exploration Society from 1949 until his death in 1953.

199

HOWARD CARTER

common cry. There are no known letters of Carter’s covering the early
months of hostilities, but he had returned to Egypt some time in the
autumn of 1914, after a last pre-war leave in England, with a clear objec-
tive for a first piece of work in the Valley. At this moment he was 40
years old, and there could have been no immediate pressure on him to
find some war-time activity. He could therefore continue as normally as
possible under the circumstances and start with a relatively easy task, the
clearing of the tomb of King Amenophis III.

Carter’s interest in this tomb had been aroused especially by his
purchase of the three bracelet plaques for Lord Carnarvon in 1912. He
had concluded that they must have come from the recent work carried
out by Harry Burton on behalf of Theodore Davis. The tomb, which lay
not in the main (or East) Valley of the Kings, but in the more remote
West Valley, had been open at least since the time of Napoleon’s expedi-
tion to Egypt. 21 It had never been properly cleared, and the work which
Burton had done was limited to waste-heaps around the entrance. He
had found a few damaged remnants of tomb equipment. Carter pointed
out: 2 2 ‘The fact that Burton found outside the tomb last spring the parts
of Amenhotep Ill’s [i.e. Amenophis III] harness widr heavy gold bosses
shows there must be stuff still there and he in no way exhausted the
heaps nor did he touch the interior, which is full of rubbish.’ He hoped
that by doing a little poking around unofficially he might be able to test
the prospects for further work. Two weeks later he writes: 2 ’ ‘I have not
yet gone to the tomb (Amenhetep III), but will do so.’ Whatever trips of
reconnaissance he might have made subsequendy, it was not until after
the season of 1914 and the acquisition of the Valley concession that
Carter could seriously consider tackling the clearance of the tomb.

Work began on 8 February 1915, and continued for precisely one
month, finishing on 8 March. 24 It is not clear under what authorization
Carter carried out this work. Although the concession for the Valley of
the Kings had been surrendered by Theodore Davis in 1914, and been
passed over to the Earl of Carnarvon, there seems to have been no offi-
cial document issued at that time which would have permitted Carter to
work in the following spring. The actual written permission under which
Carter received his authorization to dig in the Valley on behalf of

21 See C. N. Reeves, Valley of the Kings , pp. 38ff.

22 Letter of 7 November 1912, from Carter to Carnarvon, at Highclere Castle.

23 Letter of 20 November, at Highclere Castle.

24 G.I. Carter Papers I A, 123ff., I. J, 386f.

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ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

Carnarvon was not signed until 18 April 191 5. 25 It was executed by
Lacau’s deputy, Georges Daressy and, renewed annually from 1917,
remained the document by which they continued to work up to the time
when the tomb of Tutankhamun was found. One must presume that
Carter received some kind of temporary permit to carry out clearance
rather than excavation in February 1915, in advance of the preparation of
the full document of authorization.

Within a few days of starting work, while clearing the debris-strewn
area in front of the tomb entrance, he found a series of five foundation
deposits, one of which was badly damaged by water infiltration. The
inscribed objects in these deposits carried the names of Tuthmosis IV,
the father and predecessor of Amenophis III. Carter rightly deduced that
this evidence suggested that the tomb had been started for Tuthmosis,
but had then been abandoned for the tomb in the main Valley which he
had excavated for Theodore Davis in 1903. There was no doubt that the
tomb had finally been prepared for Amenophis III; confirmation came
from the poorly preserved mural decorations and inscriptions, and from
the many fragments of royal tomb paraphernalia recovered from the
entrance passage and the debris in the protective well, bearing the king’s
name. There was also some evidence that it may have contained the
burial of Tiye, the king’s greatest and favourite consort. A large number
of the damaged objects, including a series of interesting wooden faces
from shabti- figures, and one fine shabti - head in calcite, were among the
pieces rediscovered in recent years in Highclere Castle. 26

This month-long campaign by no means exhausted the possibilities of
the tomb, although Carter later claimed to have ‘made a complete clear-
ance of the interior of the tomb of Amenhetep III’. 27 From his brief
field-notes he seems to have retrieved no objects from beyond the
protective well and its associated chamber, although a considerable series
of corridors and rooms lay within, including the pillared burial chamber
containing the broken lid of the royal sarcophagus. It must be concluded
that Carter decided on the basis of general inspection that very little
would result from comprehensive clearance. It is, however, also possible
that his permit to work had been limited to one month, or that other
calls on his time brought this short campaign to a close. Further work, if
thought likely to be profitable, could always be carried out in the future.

25 The text of the permit is printed in Appendix II.

26 C. N. Reeves, Ancient Egypt at Highclere Castle , pp. 27ff.

27 In H. Carter and A. C. Mace, Tomb of Tut. an kh Amen I, (London, 1923), p. 79.

201

HOWARD CARTER

Some time in the late spring or early summer of 1915, Howard Carter
became attached to the Intelligence Department of the War Office in
Cairo. It was not a military appointment, and he carried no military rank.
There is no positive evidence that this was the case, but it is noticeable
that in any references to him during the war years, he is assigned no mili-
tary rank - a matter which was practised with great punctiliousness in
those times of patriotic fervour. He may have been considered too unfit
generally to be commissioned, but there would have been no difficulty in
his being employed as a civilian. In fact, with his excellent knowledge of
Egypt and his command of Arabic (even if it were an unacademic
command), he could be usefully employed in many directions. Writing to
Albert M. Lythgoe, Curator of the Egyptian Department of the Metro-
politan Museum, on 4 June 1915, using official Intelligence Department
writing paper, he says: 28 ‘I am a fixture here for the summer and possibly
longer - We all must do the best in the terrible struggle - to win we shall
even if the last drop of blood is necessary. Mace I hear is doing great
things in England. 29 I am glad as it is up to us all to do something.’ The
precise nature of Carter’s war-work is a mystery. In a late autobiograph-
ical essay he talks of being ‘tired of war-work and secret ciphers’, 30 and
there is a suggestion that he was from time to time employed as a King’s
Messenger, i.e. an official courier for important communications. The
suggestion is, however, most unlikely, for the King’s Messenger Service
was composed of ‘a limited number of men who have been properly
trained as such and are regular Servants of the Crown.’ 31 That he was
later dropped from such employment is also unconfirmed, although he
does say in a letter to Mrs Newberry in October 1917: 32 ‘at present I am
nearly dotty. They don’t or won’t give me any more war work in Cairo, So
here I am [in Luxor], Glad to say well occupied with drawing and

28 MMA, Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

29 Arthur Cruttenden Mace would become Carter’s principal collaborator after the
discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. He had been working with the Metropolitan
Museum Egyptian Expedition at Lisht in Middle Egypt up to the war. At the outbreak
of hostilities he was enrolled as a special constable; then in September 1915 he enlisted
in the 5th Batallion, the 28th London Territorial Regiment, which came to be known
as the Artists Rifles. For his war career, see C. C. Lee, . . . The Grand Piano came by Camel
(Renfrew, 1990), pp. 27 f

30 G.I. Carter Notebook 17, p. 227 (sketch XII).

31 I owe the suggestion that he was employed as a King’s Messenger to Cyril Aldred. The
unlikelihood of such an appointment is confirmed by V. Wheeler-Holohan, The History
of the King’s Messengers (London, 1935), p. viii.

32 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8.56, dated 20 October.

202

ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

painting.’ It would not have been surprising if he had not crossed swords
from time to time with those who ran the department in Cairo. Blimps
and office-wallahs had a poor profile in the Great War; Carter was never
one to endure inefficiency patiently, and would surely not have listened
to official humbug without making his feelings felt. The few indications
of his war-work suggest that it was intermittent and undemanding. It
gave him ample opportunity to slip down to Luxor, often for extended
periods, to potter around archaeologically, to do a little excavation, to
paint, and to keep an eye on what was turning up in the antiquities
dealers’ shops.

He may also have organized, or participated in, an incident which
smacked more of T. E. Lawrence’s escapades in the Arabian Desert than
of the normally rather cautious Norfolk ‘dumpling’. ’’ On 4 November
1915 Somers Clarke, Carter’s old architectural and engineering mentor of
their Deir el-Bahri days wrote from Luxor to Budge in the British
Museum: 54

In these doleful days there is not often to be told news even of a
slightly satisfactory nature but I have learnt one little bit that may
please you. Possibly you may know it already. You remember that ugly
ridiculous red abomination emblematical of German pushful vulgarity
which stands — stood - behind the Ramesseum at Thebes. It stands no
more. I arrived at Luxor last week and stayed there a day or two whilst
the house at El Kab was being dusted. Then I heard that the tiling had
vanished, but did not take the trouble to go across and see what was
not to be seen.

The building in question was the German House at Qurna, the Luxor
base of the German Archaeological Institute. It had been designed by
Ludwig Borchardt, the distinguished German Egyptologist, who had
carried out important excavations at El-Amarna in the years before the
war. The house plan was based on a conjectural reconstruction of an
Amarna villa, and was thought to be imaginative or pretentious,
according to individual sympathies and taste. After the war Borchardt

33 So described by the Revd F. Keeling Scott, vicar of Swaffham, in an article on Carter
and his family in the Eastern Daily Press for 20 February 1923, p. 6. The traditional
Norfolk dumpling is not, as might be supposed, heavy and solid, but light and appe-
tizing.

34 In Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities, British Museum.

203

HOWARD CARTER

claimed that the destruction was ordered by the Commander of Allied
forces in Egypt, ‘because it was found to be a centre of illicit antiquities
trade and otherwise undesirable’. 35 It is said that he was convinced that
Howard Carter was responsible for blowing up the house, and the tradi-
tion has persisted in Egyptological memories. The matter is by no means
certain, but it is known that Borchardt and Carter were not well disposed
towards each other. It was a long-standing antipathy, which had certainly
been aggravated when Carter acquired the bracelet plaques of Ameno-
phis III for Lord Carnarvon. In his letter of 12 October 1912,
announcing his purchase to Carnarvon, Carter mentions specifically that
he had beaten the German consul who had been put on to the matter by
Borchardt.

The perpetrators of this act of vandalism - certainly not seen as such
by non-Germans at the time — were almost surely acting on official
orders. The blowing-up of a building was not likely to have been the act
of the villagers of Qurna; straightforward robbery was much more their
style. But in the countryside generally they were troublous times, and
there was a constant threat to property and to ancient monuments.
Ernest Mackay, who had taken over the Theban tomb conservation
operation from Arthur Weigall in 1913, wrote to Alan Gardiner on 23
July 1915 explaining why he was staying on at Thebes and not joining up
for war-work. There were then no European inspectors between Cairo
and Wadi Haifa on the Sudanese border: 36

Thefts are now very numerous, the favourite articles being cattle and
corn. Three nights ago a party of four men were discovered digging a
shaft behind some houses in Drah. A. N. [Dra Abu el-Naga], One was
caught but in the process damaged badly under Sheikh el Gaffir. I also
hear that some statues have been stolen from Legrain’s magazine [at
Karnak] but do not know any particulars yet. You will see by this that
it would not be nice for me to go away to Cairo for the present. The
bright side of the picture is that none of the dealers are buying antiqui-
ties with the exception of very good stuff, as they have been very badly
hit by this season, and are likely to be worse off next season.

35 Doubt is thrown on Carter’s involvement in the incident by Dr Rainer Stadelmann, at
the time Director of the Deutsches Archaologisches Institut Abteilung Kairo, in a
letter to Anne Pemberton, of 22 March 1988. He quotes from the Guest Book of the
German House.

36 G.I. Mackay Papers in the Gardiner Papers, 19.

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ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

The Theban conditions described by Mackay were reiterated by Howard
Carter in various letters. To Lythgoe in the letter of 4 June 1915, quoted
earlier, he reports, ‘I picked up one or two wonderful specimens this
spring. In the Highclere Collection. But on the whole there has not been
much about. The natives are having good crops and thus hoarding for
better times.’ He was well placed, with war-work in Cairo and leaves in
Luxor, to keep an eye on the market and to exploit his contacts. There
would be extraordinary developments in 1916, which resulted from his
ability to follow up tips more or less at his leisure.

In the meanwhile, however, having time on his hands in Cairo, he
began to follow a more systematic approach to his archaeological inter-
ests, as opposed to his opportunistic pursuit of good antiquities. In the
same letter to Lythgoe he makes an unusual, but significant request:

White is here at the Continental working on his publication on the
‘Sayings of Christ’. I wonder if you will mind my asking him to help
me later on the Classical stuff re Valley of the Kings. Among other
reports of our work there which I trust will be exhaustive to the end —
or as far as we can go - I aim want [tzb] to publish in parts a kind of
‘Record of the Royal Theban Necropolis’.

I think it will be of interest and too of value as you well known [sic].
The mass of the material from that origin has been grossly muddled.
And, too, to have all such material in one publication will save a lot of
time and expense to students.

The White mentioned here was Hugh G. Evelyn-White, a British clas-
sical scholar and archaeologist who had been employed by the Metropol-
itan Museum for some years up to the war, and was in 1915 on service in
Egypt. 3 It is interesting to note that Howard Carter felt it necessary to
clear with Lythgoe his projected work with Evelyn- White, and one may
presume that it was punctiliousness on the part of the latter which
required him to do so. It is further interesting to see that even at this
early date the strategy of Carter and Carnarvon to their future work in
the Valley was to be ‘exhaustive’.

The substantial notes compiled by Carter during the war years for
this comprehensive work on the Valley are now lodged in the Griffith

37 On Evelyn- White see W. R. Dawson and others, Who Was Who in Egyptology, pp. 145£
His The Sayings of Jesus from Oxyrhynchus was published in 1920 (Cambridge). He died in
1924.

205

HOWARD CARTER

Institute in Oxford/’ 8 They represent only the preliminary stage in the
collecting of material from ancient and modern sources, and never
reached a state fit to be published. There was, however, other work to be
done, and he was actively encouraged to publish by Alan Gardiner, and
to be a partner in publication with him. This was a strange development,
for only a few years earlier Carter had expressed such distrust of
Gardiner. The cooperation between Gardiner and Weigall, and the poor
relationship between Weigall and Carter, had no doubt been mitigated by
Weigall’s departure from Thebes. More significant, perhaps, were the
close relations established by Gardiner with Carnarvon. There had been
a coolness between the two, also probably induced by Gardiner’s friend-
ship with Weigall; but the real issue between them, according to
Gardiner, was Carnarvon’s refusal to allow him to publish the important
historical text on the Carnarvon Tablet I. 39 After a lengthy period of
mutual disapproval, lasting possibly several years, a confrontation in the
bar of the Winter Palace Hotel, engineered by a cousin of Gardiner’s, led
to some plain speaking and a clearing of the air. Gardiner wrote to his
wife, not long after this incident: 4 " ‘This morning I went over to call on
Lord Carnarvon at his excavation. He was very friendly and pleasant,
quite different from what I had anticipated.’ Thereafter close relations
were established, although Gardiner was nervous of exploiting die kind-
ness of one whom he considered to belong to a different social world.
‘But he deliberately sought me out, invited me to Highclere Castle again
and again where I got to know well his magnificent collection of Egyp-
tian antiquities.’ Carnarvon and, following in his footsteps, Carter, could
not have failed to appreciate Gardiner’s total commitment to Egyptology
and his exceptional ability as a textual scholar. To have him work with
them could only have been advantageous to the quality of their own
publications, and beneficial to Egyptology in general.

Alan Gardiner’s scholarly interests were primarily linguistic and histor-
ical, although they covered many other fields also in so far as the require-
ments of the explication of ancient texts were concerned. He was by
1916 the new editor of the recendy established Journal of Egyptian Archae-
ology, the scholarly organ of the Egypt Exploration Fund, and he felt it

38 G.I. Carter Papers I K, 1—21.

39 The differences and the reconciliation between Carnarvon and Gardiner are explained
in Gardiner, My Working Years (1963), pp. 37f.

40 Letter of 5 February 1913, written from Qurna, in the possession of Margaret
Gardiner.

206

ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

incumbent on himself to sustain the fledgling publication during the war
years, even if it meant writing more for it himself than he would have
contemplated in less strained circumstances. As it appeared four times
annually in those days, the problem of finding sufficient material for its
pages was a continuous burden. In the course of the years 1916-18
Gardiner contributed a number of long articles of lasting importance,
using material found by Carnarvon and Carter, involving Carter with him
in the preparation of one important study, and encouraging Carter to
provide long reports of some of the most interesting discoveries in
Thebes. Gardiner was a careful editor, a master of clear English, and an
ideal partner who could bring order, rigour and style into Carter’s some-
what undisciplined writing. The co-operation first flowered in 1916, with
a long study by Gardiner of the Carnarvon Tablet I, and a short note
with a colour plate (always rare in scholarly publications until recent
years, and quite exceptional in wartime) making known the three plaques
of Amenophis III which Carter had acquired for Carnarvon in 191 5. 41

In the summer of 1916 Carter was able to return to England for some
weeks, possibly carrying out some official courier duty. He had the
opportunity of renewing Egyptological contacts and of getting to know
Gardiner better. So, in early August he was taken by Carnarvon to see
Budge in the British Museum, surely to discuss the possibilities for the
acquisition of antiquities during the war. 42 He had already been in Britain
for some time, for as early as May Alan Gardiner wrote to him with some
suggestions for the improvement of the article that Carter had written
for the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (usually abbreviated to J.EAl) on his
discovery of the tomb of Amenophis I. 43 The extraordinary improve-
ment in their relations is indicated by Gardiner’s invitation to dinner: ‘Let
me know whether Thursday next here 7 o’clock would suit you. We would
then go to some show. Have you seen the Bing Boys’ And what do you
want to see’ I should like to get tickets early, so please let me know as

,44

soon as you can.

41 In J.E.A. 3 (1916), pp. 73f (plaques); pp. 95ff. (Carnarvon Tablet I).

42 Letter of 14 August 1916 from Carnarvon to Budge in Department of Western Asiatic
Antiquities, British Museum.

43 J.E.A. 3 (1916), pp. 147ff.

44 G.I. Carter Papers I A 212. The musical revue The Bing Boys are Here was the ‘hit’ of the
1916 season at the Alhambra Theatre; written by George Grossmith Jr and starring
George Robey and Violet Loraine. Its best known song was ‘If you were the only girl
in the world’.

207

HOWARD CARTER

There were more serious things to discuss, apart from the article on
the tomb of Amenophis I. Gardiner was eager to publish a pair of very
interesting inscriptions found in the tomb of Akhtoy (or Ivhety), no. 65
in the numbering of the Carnarvon-Carter excavations in the Birabi at
Thebes in 1913-14. Percy Newberry had been expected to make the
publication, but progress had been so slow that Carter needed little
persuasion from Gardiner to convince Newberry to give up his rights. 43
The resulting article in J.E.A., ‘The tomb of a much-travelled Theban
official’, was put together by Gardiner from Carter’s field-notes on the
excavation of the tomb, combined with his own translations and
commentaries on the textual material. 46 It was a characteristic piece of
forceful initiative by Gardiner. He appreciated that the interest of the
texts, and of the whole tomb with its damaged wall-paintings, was such
that some friendly pressure was needed to secure their publication, and
so his article incorporated all of Carter’s written descriptions and inter-
pretations, as well as his own substantial contributions. More was
extracted from the shattered remains of Akhtoy’s tomb than Carter
could otherwise have hoped to include in any sequel to Five Years’ Explo-
rations at Thebes — a volume he would in any case never write.

For the future there should be more co-operation. Throughout his
long career in Egyptology, Alan Gardiner was a great promoter of schol-
arly activity by others, as separate and independent operations, with or
without his participation. He had a keen eye for special talents, and suffi-
cient private resources to subsidize pieces of work which might stand on
their own or supplement his own researches. In this respect he was inno-
vative, ingenious, indefatigable and far-sighted, and through his distinctly
entrepreneurial initiatives he promoted the interests of many colleagues,
and distinctly advanced the progress of Egyptology. In the summer of
1916 he had two further enterprises in mind which would capitalize on
Howard Carter’s artistic and draughting abilities, and utilize the time he
might have available for archaeological activities in Thebes in between
his tours of duty in Cairo. The first was an investigation of the archaeo-
logical background and textual detail of a plan on a papyrus of a royal
tomb at Thebes, in the Egyptian Museum in Turin. Superficially it
seemed a fairly simple task. The ancient plan had been identified many
years earlier as being of the tomb of King Ramesses IV of the Twentieth
Dynasty, but the various dimensions of the actual tomb did not seem to

45 G.I. Newberry Corr. 18/22; letter of 1 July 1916 from Gardiner to Newberry.

46 J.E.A. 4 (1917), pp. 28ff.

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ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

agree with those given on the papyrus. Carter was just the man to take
his tape-measure into the Valley of the Kings, obtain a careful set of new
measurements, armed with those extracted by Gardiner from the
papyrus, and then produce new, reliable, plans and sections. Carter
readily agreed, and shortly after his return to Egypt in October 1916
Gardiner wrote to him: 4 '

I hope your journey was a good one and not too unpleasant. Here is
the translation of the Turin papyrus, with as full comments as I can
give. I hope you will be able to clear up every point. It would be very
valuable anyhow to have a final and exhaustive plan of the tomb.

In the course of the next few months Carter did his part in the joint
enterprise, and on 4 March 1917 Gardiner was able to report: 48 ‘Your
work on the tomb of Ramesses IV just received with your perfectly deli-
ciously drawn plan and section. I am delighted, and as soon as I have a
moment of leisure shall settle down to the article.’ He asks Carter to
convert all measurements from yards to metres: ‘If you did it straight off
I should have it in time, if the submarines weren’t unkind!’

Co-operation at such a distance and in war-time was slow, very uncer-
tain and vexing for both sides. Gardiner in his eagerness to move
forward and complete articles for J.E.A. was inclined to make substantial
editorial changes in what Carter wrote. Carter, understandably, found
Gardiner’s rather arbitrary procedures very tiresome. A letter of 3 May
1917 hints at the stresses. 49 Gardiner begins with a spoonful of oil to
calm Carter’s objections: Au contraire\ I did not find your letter disagree-
able. It contained some perfectly just answers to my rather finnicking
demands, and if I cant accept those, so much the worse for me.’ Later in
the same letter he elaborates his difficulties as editor:

You know it is a considerable responsibility to me as editor to write up
your articles, but at present a closer collaboration seems unpracticable.
I hope you will be lenient with me in the free hand I am taking. At all
events I spare no trouble to bring out your results in the very best
form.

47 MMA, Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

48 G.I. Carter Papers V, 99.

49 G.I. Carter Papers V, 100.

209

HOWARD CARTER

Gardiner’s last remark was fully justified. The article was finally
published under both their names in the late summer of 1 9 1 7 . 50

The second, and much more important, undertaking that Gardiner
and Carter discussed in the summer of 1916 was the drawing by Carter
of the important series of reliefs and inscriptions in the colonnade of the
temple of Luxor. The sequence of scenes depicts the procession by river
and land from the great temple of Karnak, two miles upstream, in which
the Theban deities Amun, Mut and Khonsu travel during the Opet
festival to the Luxor temple. The scenes are rich in detail - divine boats,
priests, singers, attendants, musicians, soldiers, offerings - carved in the
wonderfully sensitive style of the high Eighteenth Dynasty, and executed
with a mastery of technical skill. They were probably begun in the reign
of Amenophis III and completed by King Tutankhamun, a name which
was not yet quite one to conjure with in 1916. Gardiner in his early refer-
ences always calls them the Horemheb (Haremhab) reliefs; that king, a
near successor of Tutankhamun, completed the colonnade and usurped
much of his young predecessor’s work. To draw such scenes was a task to
delight Howard Carter, and to work on them one to excite Gardiner. For
Carter it would be the first extended piece of serious epigraphic work he
had engaged in since the completion of the Deir el-Bahri reliefs in 1899;
for Gardiner it would represent the achievement of yet one more perma-
nent record of historical and artistic importance, enshrined in a fine
publication. After some preliminary discussion, Gardiner summed up his
views in a letter to Carter in August:” 1

With regard to the Haremhab procession my idea, since I have got the
very best artist to help me, is to reproduce the scenes in the very best
way possible; and since the book will not have to form one of a series
my proposal is that the size of tire book should be made to suit firstly,
the nature of the scenes copied, and secondly general consideration of
convenience. ... I should like the book to be an artistic one. I don’t
mind a little expense.

Carter was to be paid a good, but not excessive, fee for his work:

my recollection is that your suggestion was £75 down and £100 on
completion of the job. Or was it the other way round’ Anyhow, I send

50 J.E.A. 4 (1917), pp. 130f£

51 G.I. Carter Papers V, 97, dated 24 August 1916.

210

ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

you now a cheque for £75 and will send another if I have made a
mistake.

By the spring of 1917, Carter had completed drawings enough for 15
plates of the projected volume, which, he estimated, would contain
between 30 and 40 plates. It really did seem that the undertaking would
be brought to a successful - conclusion before too long: 32 ‘It is good
news that the Haremhab scenes are going well. In case you come back to
England in the summer I should suggest you leave the drawings behind
in Egypt. There is every chance of safety for passengers but considerably
less for luggage nowadays, and it would be terrible if all that work went
to the bottom.’ On 1 May Carter sent Gardiner his proposals for the
plate arrangements in the book, reiterates that he has completed 15,
reckons he has done enough to justify the original agreed payment of
£175, and looks forward to being commissioned to complete the further
15, or more, plates needed. Gardiner took up this, or a subsequent, letter
on 17 June enthusiastically: 53

So far as economy goes in publication I want this once to do your
admirable drawings real justice and to show the Americans that they
have not the monopoly of making editions de luxe. ... I want our publi-
cation to be just perfect, and unless I am ruined by the war I am
prepared to remunerate you to whatever you consider the right and
proper extent.

So certain did it then seem that the Luxor enterprise would soon be
finished that Gardiner began to think up other tasks for Carter to do. It
seemed too good an opportunity to have a tame artist in Thebes at a
time when most scholars were unable to travel in Egypt. Gardiner prob-
ably also thought that he was doing Carter a favour in suggesting new
tasks ‘to fill out the time until the war ends’. 34 There were new discov-
eries by Carter himself which could be written up for the J.E.A.\ there
later would be the possibility of a co-operation in the publication of
inscribed ostraca (limestone flakes, used for casual jottings in antiquity);
and Carter could recopy for him the inscriptions on a remarkable early

52 G.I. Carter Papers V, 99, letter of 4 March 1917.

53 The Carter letter is preserved in draft only; for it and Gardiner’s subsequent letter, G.I.
Carter Papers V, 105 and 101.

54 G.I. Carter Papers V, 102, letter dated 24 August 1918.

211

HOWARD CARTER

Middle-Kingdom shrine from Dendera which had recendy been badly
dealt with in the journal of the Antiquities Service. 35

There can be little doubt that Carter could read the danger signs. If he
were not careful he would become Gardiner’s man in Luxor, expected
more and more to execute his commissions and requests. Carter was still
Carnarvon’s man, and he was surely not prepared to compromise his
principal professional relationship by spending too much time on work
for Gardiner, who, although increasingly friendly with Carnarvon, may
not have kept him fully informed of the use he was making of Carter. It
must be said that it was never unprofitable, in a scholarly sense, to work
for and with Gardiner, but he was inclined to regard willing co-operation
by another scholar as ready submission to all scholarly demands.
Although there are no documents mentioning Carter’s backing away from
Gardiner’s persistent demands, it is noticeable drat work on the drawings
of the Luxor reliefs ground to a halt during the summer of 1917. There
are no letters from Gardiner complaining of the suspension and urging
Carter to continue. They were never subsequently taken up again, and the
end of the war, resumption of full-scale work for Carnarvon, and other
commitments, provided Carter with insufficient time to return with his
drawing board to the east bank of the Nile and the processional colon-
nade of Horemheb in the Luxor temple. Tragically, the work was never
completed. The finished drawings were in due course handed over to
Gardiner, and they now lie unpublished in tire archives of the Griffith
Institute in Oxford, 36 a sad and substantial token of what would certainly
have been that ‘perfect’ publication that Alan Gardiner had desired.

During the summer of 1916, while Carter was in England, a most
remarkable discovery was made in a remote spot at the southern end of
the hilly district of the Theban Necropolis. 37 There had been a heavy rain-
storm in the hills, resulting in tumultuous floods pouring down from the
western mountains to the Theban plain. On such rare occasions huge
quantities of loose debris were moved about by the water, and it was not
uncommon for ancient remains, or the indications of tombs, to be
revealed. The professional tomb-robbers of Qurna were well aware of
these periodic natural, and very effective, scourings, and following this

55 G.I. Carter Papers V, 103, letter of 12 June 1918.

56 G.I. Gardiner Papers AHG/11, 1—13. See also addenda below.

57 Account in H. E. Winlock, The Treasure of three Pgyptian Princesses (New York, 1948). A
fuller account of the discovery and study of the treasure is under preparation by Dr C.
Lilyquist.

212

ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

summer downpour drey discovered a tomb in the Wadi Qubbanet el-
Qirud, “Valley of the tombs of the monkeys’. It contained the remains of
the burials of three Asiatic wives of King Tuthmosis III (r. 1479—1425
BC), much devastated by water, but still rich in objects of precious metals
and inscribed stone vessels. The find could not be kept wholly quiet, and
it was not long before Ernest Mackay heard in broad outline die story of
the pillaging of the contents, the ‘banking’ of the antiquities widi the
Luxor dealer Mohammed Mohassib, the antics of the robbers in their
disputes over the discovery, and in their behaviour after receiving from
the dealer a sum reported later by Carter as amounting to £E1100 - a
fortune even for reasonably successful tomb robbers. 58 When Carter
returned to Thebes in October 1916 the stories of the discovery and of
subsequent events were in the process of being elaborated in the repeated
tellings in the gossip shops of Luxor. Carter believed that he finally deter-
mined the broad outlines of what had happened, but his informal
account, written down many years later, has never been published. 50 His
interest in the objects that had ended up with Mohammed Mohassib was
naturally intense, and his negotiations in acquiring most of what had been
found will be discussed briefly in the next chapter. Archaeologically,
however, he was alerted to the possibility of further discoveries in the
region of the Wadi Qubbanet el-Qirud, just as the original finders of the
tomb had been alerted by the providential cloud-burst.

Before the end of October, Howard Carter found himself engaged in a
further ‘cloak-and-dagger’ operation in the very same region of the
Theban Necropolis. 611 News of another discovery broke in the villages of
the west bank one afternoon, and there followed a skirmishing between
rival bands of tomb robbers. Carter was asked to intervene to prevent
further trouble. He happened to be spending a short holiday in Luxor at
the time, and was the most ‘experienced and trusted’ of the few Euro-
peans still in the area. With a party of his former workmen and accompa-
nied by Sheikh Mansour, one of the influential locals, he set out as soon
as possible, and approached the scene of the discovery over the hills to
the lip of the small ravine Wadi Sikket Taqet Zaid, which ran northwards
out of the Wadi Qubbanet el-Qirud. Here they found a rope dangling
over the edge of the cliff, leading down to a cleft from which voices

58 A copy of Mackay’s report is kept in G.I. Gardiner Papers AGH/42. 196.

59 G.I. Carter Notebook 17, pp. 218ff (Sketch XII).

60 Dealt with briefly in The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen, I, pp. 79£, an account repeated almost
verbatim, but with much added detail, in his Sketch XII, pp. 276ff.

213

HOWARD CARTER

could be heard. Carter severed the robbers’ rope and descended on his
own. ‘Shinning down a rope at midnight, into a nestful of industrious
tomb-robbers, is a pastime which at least does not lack excitement.’ The
eight surprised Qurnawis, understanding the situation, were persuaded to
leave without making any trouble, and Carter was left with the duty,
initially full of anticipation, of clearing and investigating what had been
discovered. It was, and remains, a puzzle how the tomb had ever been
spotted. Its entrance in the cleft was invisible bodi from the top of the
cliff 130 feet above, and from the floor of the ravine 220 feet below. But
the cleft had not escaped the periodic deluges of flood water and debris,
and the whole tomb - as it turned out to be - was choked with impacted
rubbish through which the robbers had cut a tunnel over 90 feet long,
just large enough to allow the passage of a crawling man.

The eventual clearance of the tomb brought interesting, although
unspectacular finds, and the scientific results of an operation lasting 20
days could be scarcely regarded as dramatic as the tomb’s situation had
promised, or as exciting as its discovery had been. The work was labo-
rious; the daily descent into the cleft was hazardous, Carter himself always
making it in a net. Because of the difficulty of access the clearance went on
day and night, with relays of workmen, the rubbish being tossed from the
cleft down to the floor of the ravine. A passage of about 55 feet in length
led down to a square-shaped antechamber from which a shorter corridor
descended gently at right-angles to a larger chamber in which Carter
found a yellow quartzite sarcophagus, placed on the edge of a further
descending corridor leading to what was to have been the sarcophagus
chamber. This last room was small but fairly well cut out; the whole tomb
was in an unfinished state. The sarcophagus, widi its great lid leaning
against it, was inscribed for Hatshepsut as royal consort, before, that is,
she adopted the full power, panoply and titulary of kingship. Otherwise
the tomb contained only a few fragments of pottery vessels. Nevertheless,
the sarcophagus was a magnificent monument with finely carved texts,
although lacking the required divine representations on its side panels.
Every indication pointed to the conclusion that the tomb had been aban-
doned in favour of a new and more ‘royal’ sepulchre in die Valley of the
Kings, one which Carter had himself cleared for Theodore Davis in 1904.

Following the clearance of this unusual and tantalizing tomb, Carter
had it in mind to search the neighbourhood for further hidden tombs,
but nature intervened: 61

61 In Sketch XII, p. 233.

214

ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

the fury of the elements was let loose. Heavy clouds that had been gath-
ering on the summit of the mountain broke. Flashes of lightning quiv-
ered from those clouds. Peals of thunder echoed from hill to hill — a
storm had let loose its fury. The swifts whirled screaming to their crags.
In a few moments the whole mountain-side foamed with innumerable
cascades. The tomb in the cleft was filled to its brim with rainwater, and
we had but a few minutes to strike camp for higher ground, clear of the
boulder-strewn valley which soon became a roaring torrent.

When the weather cleared Carter decided to grasp the opportunity to
follow the local practice of searching the hills for signs of tombs after a
torrential downpour. He spent ten useful days on this survey without
finding anything as dramatic as the two tombs already discovered earlier
in the year. He noted short ancient texts in the hieratic script scribbled on
the rocks (graffiti), remains of stone huts, and a number of empty tomb-
pits. At Gardiner’s insistence he allowed two reports he had sent to Lord
Carnarvon to be compiled into an article for J.E.A.; it contained his
survey and incorporated a brief description of the tomb of the three wives
of Tuthmosis III, and a fuller account of the tomb in the cleft. 62 A shorter
report on the latter discovery was written up for the journal of the Antiq-
uities Service, with the interesting title A tomb prepared for Queen
Hatshepsuit discovered by the Earl of Carnarvon (October, 1 91 6)’. 63 It
was important that Carter was seen to be acting, in investigating the tomb
in the cleft, not independently, but as the agent of Lord Carnarvon, to
whom die concession in the Valley of the Kings was assigned.

The time had not yet arrived when Carter could safely embark on the
work in the Valley for which he had been so long waiting, and so dili-
gently preparing himself. For the time being he was still working for the
Intelligence Department at Headquarters in Cairo. His occasional spells
of leave allowed him to go up-river to Luxor and do a little, generally
unsystematic archaeological work, continue his Luxor Temple drawing
for Gardiner, and paint a little on his own account. A series of lively,
rather gossipy, letters to Essie, wife of Percy Newberry, provide rare
glimpses of the private Howard Carter, who was not in the habit of
unburdening himself to more than a very few intimate friends. 64 Writing

62 J.EA. 4 (1917), pp. 107ff.

63 A.S.A.E. 16 (1917), pp. 179ff.

64 Letters to Mrs Newberry in G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/60 (10 Feb., 1917), 8/51 (9 July),
8/55 (31 May), 8/56 (20 Oct).

215

HOWARD CARTER

on 10 February, still in Luxor, he had some rather unexciting news and
gossip to convey. By 31 May he was back in Cairo and living in the Conti-
nental Hotel; after writing about work on the Newberrys dahabiya, on
which he was keeping an eye, and various Cairo acquaintances, he adds:

In many ways I don’t think Egypt was ever so prosperous, and
excepting rate of living having greatly risen little of the toils of Greater
Europe are felt, especially as now the news is so satisfactory.

I may go to the Gaza front, but it is not yet certain. In the meantime
I have been fortunate and am keeping afloat.

It is hard to know what he meant by that last remark, unless he was
referring to financial matters. He had received some money from
Gardiner in the recent months, and he may have been paid a small
retainer by Carnarvon, especially as he continued to purchase antiquities
on his behalf. He probably received no regular payment for his work for
the Intelligence Department, but smallish sums for individual commis-
sions. Sales of paintings were probably slow; but in the following year he
was pleased to be able to report to Mrs Newberry, 65 c You will be glad to
hear that I got rid of a nice fat drawing - I believe a good one — this
spring in Cairo — most satisfactory.’ In general, life in Cairo could be
pretty dull, and made more tiresome by the loss of letters from home. He
complains so to Essie Newberry on 9 July:

Here one is muddling along — sometimes depressed and sometimes
gay - but as I read the other day - human life - happiness and unhap-
piness - are far more equally balanced than usually credited. They exist
in more or less proportionate quantities and give place to each other at
regular intervals. The pessimist counts the one and is unhappy, the
optimist the other and [is] more or less joyous.

A letter in October indicates that he had been back in Luxor for two
months. It includes the news that he was no longer getting war-work in
Cairo; so it must be assumed that he never went to the Gaza front, as he
had expected in May. He found life in Upper Egypt lonely, and was in
consequence ‘nearly dotty’:

65 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/53, letter of 13 April 1918.

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ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

I may do a litde excavating later. I offered the Service to do what I
could until they were able to replace poor Legrain but as I have received
no answer in any form I expect I ain’t wanted. (Rather glad). . . .

I have a cat, of half wild and half domestic extract. I can’t say I like
cats, and this one in particular, especially when she cat calls in the
middle of the night.

In one area of activity, however, Carter was busy and flourishing
during the war, and particularly from 1917; this was the purchasing and
placing of antiquities for private and public interests. As he reported on
more than one occasion, there was not much of a market for good mate-
rial during the war, and anything of quality was likely to be put away to
mature, to await the return of the big-spending tourists and museum
representatives after the war. For someone like Carter the conditions
were ideal for picking up bargains, and for having the run of the stocks
of the dealers without serious competition. His purchases for Lord
Carnarvon were, it seems, straight transactions without commission.
Similarly he helped to arrange, in 1915, with the direct assistance of
Carnarvon, the sale of seven large granite statues of the lioness deity
Sakhmet formerly in the Amherst Collection, to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. 66 Again it appears that in this transaction, as in others he
had carried through for the Americans, he had not sought, or been
offered, a commission. It is not impossible — in fact highly likely — that
when he sold something he had purchased privately, the price was
adjusted to include some profit. But as an agent he acted ‘as a friend of
the family and of ours as well’, as Lythgoe put it in a letter of 1 91 9. 67 It was
in the same letter that Lythgoe proposed that Carter should receive
commissions for purchases for the Metropolitan. In offering such —
which Carter in answer gratefully accepted - Lythgoe had taken a lead
from the agreement which he and others had helped Carter to conclude
with the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1917. That recendy established but
already vigorous institution wished to build on its small core collection
of Egyptian antiquities, and Carter was recommended as the best avail-
able agent. 66 Henry W Kent, Secretary of the Metropolitan Museum,

66 Letters between Carter and Albert Lythgoe, May-June 1915, in Department

of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

67 Letter dated 26 February, in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

68 An account of the arrangement and its results is given in T. G. H. James, ‘Howard
Carter and the Cleveland Museum of Art’ in Object lessons. Cleveland creates an A.rt
Museum , ed. Evan Turner (Cleveland, 1991), pp. 66ff.

217

HOWARD CARTER

wrote to judge William Sanders, Chairman of the Cleveland Board of
Trustees: ‘he will produce results for you which will give the Cleveland
Museum an enviable place among museums of Egyptian Art.’

Howard Carter sent his terms of agreement on 16 September 1917.
They were detailed and comprehensive and suggest earlier arrangements
made with other institutions, although none have clearly been identified.
He was to receive 15 per cent commission on purchases; would obtain
best prices; would guarantee the authenticity of pieces. All costs of trans-
port, packing and insurance would be met by the Museum. He would
want in general a free hand, but would send photographs of all purchases
in advance of dispatch. He also says, significantly, ‘from time to time I
acquire Egyptian antiquities myself for the purpose of sale. Should at any
time your Museum wish to make a purchase from me, I would ask that it
be done through a third party accepted or appointed by you.’ He also
speaks of ‘the numerous and considerable purchases I have made for
both public and private collections.’ It took a little time before Carter
began to purchase for Cleveland, but between spring 1918 and the
Amherst Sale at Sothebys in June 1921 he acquired a good series of
antiquities for the Museum. The results were not perhaps as striking as
Kent had predicted, but in those early days Cleveland could not put at
Carter’s disposal the kind of funds which would have allowed him to buy
widely and well. The one good piece of Late -Period sculpture that he
bought in 1920 induced an extraordinary and unfortunate controversy
with James H. Breasted, which will be examined later. Nevertheless,
Carter greatly improved the Cleveland collection with good examples of
standard categories of antiquities and a fair number of interesting pieces,
the full scientific and artistic potentials of which were not fully appreci-
ated until many years later.

So, in autumn 1917, Howard Carter had reached a modest staging-
point in Inis career. He was, for the moment, unemployed with war-work;
he was active, collecting antiquities for his various friends and clients; he
was in Luxor and rather bored. It was in fact a time to look to the future.
Although the war still raged, there were distinct signs of an end in sight.
When it came a degree of normality might be expected; it could be a
return to pre-war conditions, with the advantages of excavation heavily
weighted in favour of European and American excavators. On the other
hand there might be significant changes. Egypt would no longer be the
rather subservient state it had previously been, even though a British
protectorate had been declared in December 1914. Within Egypt the

218

ROYAL TOMBS AND THE GREAT WAR

Antiquities Service would no longer be run by the indulgent and partial
Gaston Maspero, but by Pierre Lacau. There had been no real opportu-
nity to assess the temper of the new regime, but initial impressions were
favourable. Somers Clarke had written to Budge in the British Museum
in September 1916, saying that he saw Lacau as ‘a gentleman and man of
affairs. 69 I believe the change is immensely for the good; we may look
forward in process of time to sundry improvements.’ Carter, initially
uncertain, was later rather more confident: ‘In regard to Lacau — I think
that I ought to recall a good deal 711 1 said in my letter of last month. He is
on the whole friendly — certainly a gentleman - but a stickler and narrow
in what he calls “L’ideal au point de vue scientifique”.’ These remarks
followed a visit by Lacau to see Carter’s work in the Valley in February
1918, to be considered in the next chapter. By early February Carter had
carried out a two-month season of regular work in the Valley of the
Kings. He had at last launched Carnarvon’s campaign to ‘exhaust’ the
royal site. The life Carter had led for almost three years, chopped up and
unsettled — yet so much more ‘normal’ than that endured by most men
during the Great War — was coming to an end. Some residual uncertain-
ties of wartime service would persist, and there would be difficulties in
planning a regular life; but now there was real hope.

69 Letter in Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities, British Museum.

70 Letter to Lord Carnarvon of 29 March, 1918 in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art,
Carter files.

219

THE VALLEY OE THE KINGS
AND DISCOVERY

In the late months of 1917, with better news from the war fronts pres-
aging an end to conflict, Howard Carter had good reason to look forward
to a serious return to die work for which he was best equipped. The
future, however, was fraught with uncertainty. As far as Carter was
concerned, the key figure in his plans was the Earl of Carnarvon. He had
not seen him since the summer of 1916, and his healdi was very unpre-
dictable, as indeed it had been throughout the years of their association.
Would there be a future for their work in Egypt’ In the coming months
an almost fatal crisis gave a strong indication of how tenuous that future
might be. Writing to Lythgoe in New York in early 1918, Carter remarks: 1

Poor Lord Carnarvon, as no doubt you have heard, has had a very
poor time. He nearly died this spring - saved only by an immediate
operation for septic appendix. He is now in a state of convalence [sic\,
exceedingly weak, and I am thankful to say daily improving.

Uncertainty resided not only in Carnarvon’s health, but also in his
commitment to digging in the Valley of the Kings — a matter never
explicitly stated in die first years of work in that hope-inspiring, but
equally hope-dashing, site, but one to be inferred from Carnarvon’s
renewed search for another concession away from Thebes. There was, in
addition, a new problem, hints of which had been detected earlier; this
was the attitude of Pierre Lacau, Maspero’s successor as Director-
General of the Antiquities Service. In the same letter to Lythgoe, quoted

1 Letter of 28 May, 1918 (a duplicate of one written 12 April) in M.M.A., Department of
Egyptian Art, Carter files. See also H. Carter and A. C. Mace, The Tomb of
Tut.ankh.Amen , I, p. 34.

220

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

above, Carter voices the doubts he had raised on earlier occasions:
‘Lacau as you may already know is back and has taken up the reins of
command. He is a gendeman and good workman, but somewhat a
stickler when it comes to divisions. I think a certain combination among
concessionaires would be of use in the sence [sic\ of justice and fair play.’
When Carter wrote this letter he had recently suffered a set-back in
plans for the sale to the Metropolitan Museum of an object from the
Carnarvon excavations - an act of unwarranted meanness, as he saw it,
and suggestive of what might be in store for excavators at the hands of
the new administration. The object in question was none other than the
quartzite sarcophagus of Hatshepsut that had been found in the cleft
tomb in 1916. The excavation/ clearance of this tomb had been officially
approved in Lord Carnarvon’s name, and the excavators had some
reason to expect that a find like the sarcophagus might be ceded to them
on the grounds that it was not really needed for the Cairo Museum.
Need, however, was scarcely the criterion to be used in this case; the
sarcophagus was the only considerable object recovered from the tomb
and it was royal. In the event the plan foundered on the rocks of official
refusal, presumably with the knowledge, if not at the instigation of
Lacaur

Though Lord Carnarvon was agreable [sic\ in the matter of the
sarcophagus I have been unable to get the museum to meet our views
and let us have the monument — thus it has fallen through. It certainly
seems like the ‘dog in the manger’ as the monument has been left
neglected ever since the day of its discovery, nor has anyone been to
see it excepting myself — but that is not an uncommon trait on the part
of the department by which explorer and object suffer.

Carter, very shortly before writing to Lythgoe, had sent a long letter to
Carnarvon about excavating prospects elsewhere in the Nile Valley, and
had included the telling comment: 3

In regard to the sarcophagus — after careful consideration — the
subject being a delicate one, and one that might possibly injure your
future interests in this country — I think that it is best left alone!

2 In the same letter to Lythgoe of 28 May.

3 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files. The Hatshepsut sarcophagus is
now in the Cairo Museum, no. 47032.

221

HOWARD CARTER

Carter’s judgement in the matter was sound, and it was made at a
significant moment, after the completion of his first serious season in the
Valley, during which he had received a visit from Lacau - his first inspec-
tion by the new man. It had not been much of a season. Work had
started on 1 December 1917 ‘in the small lateral valley situated between
the tomb of Ramses II and Ramses VI.’ Here he first put into practice his
intention to clear down to bed-rock, considering this method to be the
only one certain to uncover any undiscovered tomb. It would be expen-
sive in terms of labour and of time, but essential if he were to disprove
Theodore Davis’s claim that the Valley was exhausted. The season’s work
continued until 2 February 1918. The results in terms of objects were
meagre, consisting mostly of inscribed ostraca, which were to arouse the
interest of Alan Gardiner, in expectation of further collaboration
between himself and Carter. 4 5

Although the two-month campaign had not produced encouraging
finds, or given hopeful indications for future seasons, it represented for
Carter a real achievement under what were still war conditions. There
were distinct worries for him, however, and two in particular, mentioned
earlier, needed prompt attention. They were not unrelated to each other.
First, there was the need to find another site for Lord Carnarvon;
second, what would be their future relations with, and expectations
from, Lacau and the Antiquities Service. Soon after the end of his work
in the Valley, he began a reconnaissance trip to inspect possible sites
between Luxor and Cairo. It took place between 7 and 28 March, by river
in a dahabiya belonging to the American archaeologist Clarence S. Fisher,
who had recently been excavating for the University of Pennsylvania at
Dendera, and was about to reopen work for a summer season at
Memphis, just south of Cairo. Such a trip was more than a novelty for
Carter. It was almost a holiday and certainly a huge pleasure. To Mrs
Newberry he wrote on 13 April from the Turf Club in Cairo: 3

I have just come down from the South - a floating trip down stream,

seeing various old places along the river ... it was so nice to see old

places again. Tel el Amarna especially, where I had not been for 25

4 The finds of the season are listed in C. N. Reeves, The Valley of the Kings (London,
1990), pp. 352ff. For Gardiner’s interest in the ostraca, see letter to Carter, dated 12
June 1918, G.I. Carter Papers, V, 103.

5 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/53.

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THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

years. I enjoyed it immensely and I felt quite touched in seeing what I
call old friends again.

EhAmarna, in fact, was the place he most favoured as a new site for
Lord Carnarvon. He wrote a long report to him on 29 March, in which
he detailed those places where prospects were good. 6 Akhmim was one;
the modern town occupied the site of the ancient capital of the ninth
Upper Egyptian nome, the centre of the worship of the fertility god Min.
Here he was impressed and disgusted by the state of the relatively
modern cemetery “where domed tombs not more than a century old lie
open exposing in each some ten or more ghastly corpses . . . The natives
invite you to dig among these horrible human remains and shrouds,’ He
comments favourably on Meir, an ancient necropolis site further north
where there could be ‘interesting and profitable results’. But for him El-
Amarna was ‘the pearl of sites after Saqqara, Dashur and Thebes’. His
advocacy was very persuasive:

For you it is an ideal site, convenient in every way, besides being
comparatively near Cairo; with a dahabeyeh you would never be more
than a mile from the scene of operations, beautiful desert, light and
clean digging and one need hardly say with luck the chance of beau-
tiful things. At risk of all I am fighting for it and sincerely trust to be
successful . . . Though only a few hours there my heart I found was
there the whole time.

He adds that Mervyn Herbert, Carnarvon’s half-brother, who was at the
time serving in Egypt as a First Secretary and who accompanied him for
part of the trip, “was much struck by place and surroundings’.

Carter’s distinct preference for El-Amarna contained a clear element
of nostalgia. It was here that he had first excavated in 1892, under the
stern tutelage of Flinders Petrie. In retrospect it had all the attraction one
commonly assigns to a place or occasion remembered as much for its
disagreeable aspects as for its sentimental ties. He also considered it in
terms of Carnarvon’s own physical condition and convenience. The
‘chance of beautiful things’ was not exaggerated. The Germans, under
Borchardt, had been exceptionally fortunate in their finds of fine sculp-
ture there before the war. Among their prizes was the famous head of
Queen Nefertiti; although the public revelation of this piece did not

6 Letter of 29 March, see n. 3 above.

223

HOWARD CARTER

occur until some years after the war, it may well have been known to
archaeologists from the time of its discovery. Yet Carter realized that
there might be difficulties over securing the concession. While he was in
Cairo after his river reconnaissance he made preliminary soundings
about concessions, and about the divisions of antiquities, with Lacau and
with Sir Murdoch Macdonald who was the Under-Secretary of State in
the Ministry of Public Works in Cairo, and officially in charge of the
Antiquities Service. Notes on these conversations, undated, make it clear
that die Amarna concession was not likely to be granted. He got the
impression that the German prewar concession was still strangely
respected, but that in any case Lacau wished to reserve the site for offi-
cial excavation by the Service. 7

This opinion was reiterated by Lacau in a fairly formal letter he sent to
Carter on 8 April. It was the result of the visit he had made to the Valley
in February, which has already been mentioned. He had several positive
comments to make on what Carter was doing, beginning with a friendly
enough commendation: ‘I entirely approve your plan for work in the
Valley of the Kings. By laying bare the rock in large areas, no tomb
entrance can escape you . . . Your project for a complete plan is naturally
essential, and will be an important result of your work.’ He requires
Carter to remove a retaining wall and the great mounds of debris, which
should be dispersed neatly over the walls of the Valley - a task which
will, he recognizes, be expensive: ‘It is advisable to alert Lord Carnarvon
about this without delay.’ After giving permission for various minor
requests submitted by Carter, he restated the position he proposed to
take on partage - a position in dividing finds between excavators and the
Cairo Museum which had been formulated many years earlier under
Maspero, but never fully implemented. There would no longer be an
automatic right to 50 per cent of finds for the excavator, but an absolute
right for the ceding to Cairo of anything deemed necessary for the
national collection. He complained of Carter’s making a separate
approach behind his back to Sir Murdoch Macdonald: ‘What if all exca-
vators did the same? . . . But there is one law that I must observe and
make observed .’ Finally, Lacau repeated his position on El- Amarna; it was
to be reserved for the Antiquities Service. He added, rather unneces-
sarily: ‘In any case, if we are not able to take it up ourselves in the future,

7 Memoranda and Lacau letters (in French) on the search for new sites in
Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

224

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

we should grant it to a scientific institution and not to a private indi-
vidual.’

Clearly annoyed by this last statement, Carter replied promptly on 10
April, challenging Lacau’s view of what kind of institution or person
might qualify for El-Amarna:

I fully realize that if this decision is final, I have no alternative but to
accept it — but I am sure you will forgive me if I ask what better guar-
antee can be given by a scientific institution than by an individual ... is
it not a new departure to differentiate between individuals and institu-
tions in matter of this kind?

Unfortunately this was not a debate Carter could win. Lacau answered
three days later, saying that there were already two other applicants for
El-Amarna in front of Lord Carnarvon — the American George Reisner,
and Georges Foucart, Lacau’s successor as Director of the French Insti-
tute in Cairo. Once more he insisted that in the future, for important
excavations, preference would be given to learned bodies. This decision
was partly determined by the consideration of the fate of objects found.
There should be proper publication of finds, which should also be acces-
sible to students. There was much sound thinking in Lacau’s views, but
he had a way of presenting them which showed little consideration for
the other points of view and was often rather offensive. A draft of a
letter prepared by Carter, but possibly never sent to Lacau, pointed out
that much of the excavation carried out by the British in Egypt had been
under private auspices, including the work of Petrie and Garstang. No
work had actually been promoted by museums.

In the end the bid for El-Amarna was dropped. There was no
shortage of alternatives. Writing to Carnarvon on 7 June 1918, Carter
concentrated on sites in Middle Egypt, the region containing El-Amarna,
but rich in other possibilities, as he pointed out. He was interested in
Balansura, a necropolis area near the western desert across the Nile from
Beni Hasan, and still not properly investigated; there was Tuna, a most
important burial ground for the ancient city of Hermopolis (El-Ashmu-
nein); then also Meir again, and El-Bersha where he had worked in his
first season in Egypt. Recently Reisner had obtained there, apparently
(and, as it later became clear, truly), some success with good finds of
objects. Sentiment attracted Carter to consider El-Bersha a place with
serious prospects:

225

HOWARD CARTER

The meeting of old native acquaintances after 25 years was most
touching, and I have hardly yet recovered from the reception received,
more especially the sour camels milk that was stuffed down my throat
— a beduin luxury.

Sentiment, however, could not contend with practicalities and good
prospects, and the decision was taken during the summer of 1918 to do a
short season at Meir (or Mir, as Carter called it). It was, like the other
favoured sites, a necropolis of rock-cut tombs dating from the late Old
Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom, a span of about 2300-1875 BC. The
tombs belonged to the provincial nobles of the fourteenth Upper Egyp-
tian nome, and some were decorated with extremely interesting carved
and painted scenes. A record of many of the known tombs was made by
Aylward Blackman for the Archaeological Survey of the Egypt Explora-
tion Fund in 1912—14 — he was to return there later in 1920—21 and in
1949-50 - and excavations had been carried out privately in die years
before the war for Sayed Khashaba, a wealthy landowner of Asyut. These
excavations, which had not been conducted in accordance with even the
moderate standards of field-work in Egypt at the time, were badly super-
vised and poorly recorded. On the other hand, they produced good
results, and many of the best finds were subsequently purchased for, and
may now be seen in, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In
Carter’s mind there was surely the idea that the lax methods of
Ivhashaba’s workmen would have left much to be retrieved by more
systematic methods.

In the meanwhile, with the war still continuing, Howard Carter
remained not entirely a free agent. Writing to Lythgoe in New York in
September of the previous year he had stated, 8 ‘my sundry war jobs
seemingly come to an end’. But by the early summer of 1918, he was
again involved in unspecified duties, certainly war-work. In a letter to
Mrs Newberry, written from Alexandria, where he was on holiday with
‘Jack Gordon of tire Residency’, 9 he says that he would then ‘return to
Cairo to finish work that I have on hand there. I may and I hope to go to
Palestine later on, but that is for the moment in the skyes [sic\.’ By this
time hostilities had ceased in Palestine, and there were clear attractions to
a visit to that country, even if undertaken in the course of duty. It did not,
apparently, ever take place. In July he was still in Cairo, finding things

8 Dated 16 September, in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

9 Letter of 11 June in G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/57.

226

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

‘tedious’, but enlivened by the news of occasional finds of antiquities, like
a hoard of ‘silver gilt stuff at Dendera which the Museum got — very late
and horribly ugly.’ Reporting to Percy Newberry, he comments: 1 "

Antiquities like everything else have gone up in price — the natives
have become so rich, farm produce being threble [sic\ what it was in
value. Too such large sums are brought in through the Army contracts
etc. - most of which absorbed by the natives and hoarded for future
times. So much so that they are now issuing five piastre notes, the
whole of the silver being hidden underground.

Following and negotiating in the antiquities market were now established
activities for Carter whether he was in Cairo or Luxor. Already by the
summer of 1918 he was engaged in the arrangements under which the
bulk of tire precious treasure found in the tomb of the three Asiatic
wives of Tuthmosis III was purchased by him and later acquired by the
Metropolitan Museum.

A sometimes erroneous account of this acquisition has been given
elsewhere, in which a partial and very unsympathetic position was taken;
a more balanced history of the affair remains to be written, included in a
new study of the rich contents of tire tomb. 11 It seems clear that in
organizing the purchase of the objects from the Luxor dealer
Mohammed Mohassib, Carter was encouraged by Lord Carnarvon, who
himself put up much of the money needed to secure them. The details of
the various transactions remain obscure, but it is clear that Carter found
a ready buyer in the Metropolitan Museum. The matter is one in which a
balanced judgement is hard to reach, especially so as the attitude of the
Antiquities Service at the time seems to have been one of disinterest.
When the tomb was first found, and its discovery reported by Mackay, 12
the local Egyptian Inspector carried out a prompt investigation but the
authorities in Cairo showed no interest in following up his recommenda-
tions. At some point in 1918 or 1919 Ambrose Lansing, representing the
Metropolitan Museum’s Egyptian Expedition in Egypt, acquired with the
help of Carter, and exported in due course with proper documentation

10 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/58, of 5 July.

11 See T. Hoving, Tutankhamun. The Untold Story (New York, 1978), pp. 127ff. The new
study is in preparation by Dr C. Lilyquist of the Department of Egyptian Art of the
Metropolitan Museum.

12 For the story of the discovery, see p. 212—13 above.

227

HOWARD CARTER

and the full knowledge of the Cairo Museum, the canopic jars and silver
vessels, along with some of the stone vessels from the tomb equip-
ment. 1 ’ As late as 1924 Rex Engelbach, Chief Inspector of Antiquities in
Upper Egypt, could write concerning the tomb and its reported
contents: 14

There were rumours of a great treasure having been discovered there,
which included gold sandals, bracelets, necklaces and beads, a gold
head-dress and belt and numerous alabaster vases. Whether a treasure
was indeed found will probably never be known. One thing, however,
is fairly certain, and that is that the various museum agents and collec-
tors buying in Luxor since my arrival [in 1920] have never acquired any
considerable quantity of gold ornaments, neither has any treasure been
on the market here or abroad which might have come from this tomb.

Engelbach ’s statement as a whole, published in an official report, indi-
cates either an inability on the part of the officials of the Antiquities
Service to put two and two together, or a deliberate ignoring of the facts
of the case. It must, of course, be remembered that the discovery was
made in 1916, a time when Mackay had stated that there was no Euro-
pean Inspector between Cairo and Wadi Haifa. Nevertheless, the find
was well known in Luxor at the time. Under the circumstances it is rather
more understandable that Carter, encouraged by Carnarvon and with a
purchaser in mind, was prepared to buy items from the Luxor dealer,
probably take them out of Egypt in batches without clearing them
through the Cairo Museum, and sell them to the Metropolitan Museum.
In a letter to Newberry in 1941, Herbert Winlock said: 15

The rest of the summer was spent on trying to write a paper on those
things which Howard Carter brought down in his little tin box to your
house [in Ightham, Kent] when he and I stayed with you in 1919. We
already had a certain number of vases which Lansing had bought, and
that lot of Carter’s was the first of some six lots of stuff which I

13 H. E. Winlock, The Treasure of Three Egyptian Princesses, p. llff.

14 In his Supplement to the Topographical Catalogue of the Private Tombs of Thebes (Cairo, 1924), p.
6.

15 It is not difficult to see Carter’s involvement from what H. E. Winlock says in The
Treasure of Three Egyptian Princesses (New York, 1948), pp. 11, 23, 24, 61 (objects in
Carnarvon’s possession); Winlock’s letter of 21 November 1941 in G.I. Newberry
Corr. 46/ 45.

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THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

bought from Carter in the next three years. You remember well, but
some of the things really are gorgeous.

There is much that can be said in mitigation. The Antiquities Service
had taken few steps to investigate the discovery when they were first
alerted, and none, as far as can now be determined, to track down the
objects subsequently. Carter was not in Egypt at the time of the illicit,
but very thorough, clearance of the tomb; he had no hand in the acquisi-
tion of the tomb’s contents by the Luxor dealer Mohammed Mohassib.
Carter’s faults may have lain in the undeclared export of part of the mate-
rial from Egypt, and — which was much less open to criticism — his
making money out of the transactions. On the former, it must be said
that the evidence available is not conclusive, and it is certain that he
commonly did show to tire authorities in the Cairo Museum objects that
he was exporting for museums abroad. On the latter, his personal
circumstances have to be considered. It is easy for those who enjoy
secure employment and a certain future to disdain someone who
behaves in a venal manner. One thing is sure: but for Carter’s interven-
tion, the great part of the objects from this tomb of three Asiatic wives
of Tuthmosis III would never have been brought together to be reassem-
bled, supplemented, studied and enjoyed with such profit and pleasure;
as has in fact happened.

These adventures in the world of collecting gave Howard Carter a
kind of standing in museum circles which in these years was exploited
and appreciated by those who had dealings with him. A bizarre circum-
stance occurred in 1919 when he purchased for the Cleveland Museum
of Art a sculpture of the Late Period on which James Henry Breasted,
Director of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, thought
he had first refusal. 16 The purchase was made from the Cairo dealer
Nicolas Tano, and there seems to be little doubt that there had been a
genuine misunderstanding. Breasted was exceedingly vexed that he had
missed a piece which he considered to be particularly fine. Carter had
succeeded not only in making the purchase, but in doing so at a price
below that which Breasted was prepared to pay. In a long campaign of
letter-writing, extending over nearly two years, Breasted did his best to

16 The piece is a kneeling statue of Horudja of Twenty-seventh-Dynasty date, Cleveland
no. 3455.20. For the purchase in the context of Carter’s activities on behalf of the
Cleveland Museum, see E. H. Turner, ed., Object lessons. Cleveland creates an A.rt Museum
(Cleveland, 1991), pp. 7 If.

229

HOWARD CARTER

persuade Cleveland to give up the piece, so that it might go not, as might
have been expected, to his own Oriental Institute, but to the Art Insti-
tute of Chicago, for which he was acting in the matter. In the end the
claim was dropped. In the course of a generally very unedifying
exchange of letters, the following testimonial for Carter was offered by
Henry Kent, the Secretary of the Metropolitan Museum, writing to
Frederic Whiting, Director of the Cleveland Museum of Art: ‘You
should remember that he [i.e. Carter] is a practical buyer, which means
more when dealing with the natives in Egypt than many would suppose.’
Shortly afterwards he wrote again: 17

I am still of the opinion which I expressed to you before Carter was
engaged as your agent, that he is probably the most desirable ally you
can have in Egypt. He is acknowledged to be the most skilful trader
with the natives, he is a gentleman, and I doubt very much whether he
would be found lacking in courtesy or fairness to one of his own class.

Although detailed figures are not available, it cannot be doubted that
Carter had established a flourishing antiquities practice apart from his
strictly professional archaeological work. Private collectors as well as
public institutions were pleased to make use of Iris services. Alan
Gardiner, for example, was in 1918 on the track of a papyrus brought to
his attention perhaps by Carter himself. The details are not clear, but in a
letter to Carter, dated 13 July, he refers to a cable of earlier date asking
Carter ‘to purchase the papyrus for me.’ 18 He continues, ‘I am very
grateful for your help, and as soon as I hear that the papyrus is mine I
will pay the £100 into your bank. Please keep the papyrus there for me
without unrolling it. I shall be full of expectancy to see what it is all
about.’ Nothing further is known about this papyrus, but it must be
assumed that Carter effected the purchase, and perhaps even cleared its
export through the Cairo Museum.

There can be little doubt that in making purchases of antiquities for
institutional and private clients, Carter operated with great tact and
considerable skill, and usually succeeded in his efforts without arousing
conflict. The episode involving James Breasted and the Cleveland
Museum seems to have been exceptional. Carter was not acting for
Breasted; yet it is surprising to find that in spite of the acrimony

17 Ibid., p. 72.

1 8 G.I. Carter Papers V, 1 04.

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THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

engendered by the affair, and even before the resolution of tire case of
the Late-Period sculpture, Breasted himself had enlisted the aid of Carter
in acquiring pieces for the Oriental Institute. 19 But skill in buying does
not surely induce respect or affection. Carter’s general standing had
grown during the war years; he now found himself being consulted and
taken into the plans of influential people more frequently than formerly.
His long sojourn in Egypt during the war, and his helpful attitude to
many archaeological projects and problems during those years, and
immediately afterwards, rendered him someone to be involved in matters
of general archaeological importance. The beginnings of a campaign to
counter the new thinking in the Antiquities Service have already been
noticed. He was also, as the man on the spot, consulted over the possible
establishment of a British archaeological institute in Egypt.

The idea for a British School seems to have started in the mind of
Alan Gardiner. 2 " He speaks of having plotted with Lord Carnarvon ‘to
create a British School of Egyptology in Cairo. Through Carnarvon I
had a talk with Arthur Balfour on the latter topic, but though the great
politician showed the interest and the courtesy for which he was
renowned nothing came of this after-dinner meeting.’ 21 The possibility of
setting up an institute of some kind seemed a sensible development
following the establishment of the British protectorate in Egypt in 1914,
and the likelihood of an expansion of British archaeological activity in
Egypt after the war. Carter could make soundings in Egypt. Writing to
Lord Carnarvon in November 1918, he says: 22

Just before leaving Cairo I had another long conversation [he does not
say with whom] in regard to the Service, the institution of a school etc,
and by your letters I [i.e. it] seems that we have been working much in
the same line and ends. I think you will find good and proper advice
accepted.

Gardiner’s experience with Balfour represented the negative response
that has up to the present day been granted officially to attempts to set
up an Institute in Cairo. The lack of one centrally based organization to

19 E.g. a scribe’s palette; see letter of Breasted to Carter of 1 December 1920; copy in O.I.
Director’s Office Correspondence 1920.

20 In A. H. Gardiner, My Working Years (privately published, 1963), p. 30.

21 Arthur James Balfour was Foreign Secretary from 1916 to 1919.

22 Letter of 21 November in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

231

HOWARD CARTER

promote the idea, coupled with an unwillingness by governmental agen-
cies to consider seriously the need for such an institute, has made it
impossible to proceed with a plan acceptable to all interested parties. In
the period covering the end of the war and the first years after, the
efforts by Gardiner and Carnarvon, strongly supported by the eloquent
voices of Sir John Evans, Lord Grenfell and Sir John Maxwell, were seri-
ously and effectively countered by the opposition of Flinders Petrie,
whose own British School of Archaeology in Egypt — itself no school in
the ordinary sense, and with no physical base in Egypt - had for many
years usurped the idea in name if not in actual purpose. 23

Howard Carter was not a diplomat, and would not in normal circum-
stances have been used to negotiate in a matter of importance requiring
tact and patience. In the summer of 1918, however, there was nobody
else in Egypt who had the knowledge and experience to pursue an
archaeological matter, or the opportunity to engage in discussions on a
familiar level with the appropriate authorities. They were indeed strange
times, and Carter shows signs in his few surviving letters of suffering
from a wholly understandable weariness — not the weariness of the long-
serving soldier, but that of one who had spent too long a time with not
enough to do, yet constantly on the edge of being called to service. A
long letter which he wrote to his mother from Luxor in October 1918 is
remarkable for its almost total lack of news. He starts by apologizing for
not having written for some time; his ‘occasional silence’ is ‘no less than
“the nature of the beast” ’: 24

And, here, too, perhaps not un-influenced by the ever rolling desert -
silent as if prepared for eternal duration. With it, too, the ancient
remains, wherein one dwells; they also may have tendency of dulling
the present, obliterating future, and only enlighten the very far past.

He then invokes the antiquities of Western Thebes, and the natural gran-
deurs of hills and desert, contrasting with the ‘verdant plains, palm-
groves and cool Nile waters’:

Ones ideas wander beyond their usual sphere — everything around is
calm and motionless - the sence \sic\ of magnitude, time, both past
and future, and everlasting space, creeps in through all this stationary,

23 See M. S. Drower, Flinders Petrie (London, 1985), p. 345.

24 Letter of 20 October, in the possession of Jonathan Carter.

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THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

fixed, immutable illustration. And, the one thing of all, ‘Beautiful tran-
quillity’. Such is the influence, and such is the waft from the desert, her
[? here] Western Thebes, as far as I am able to convey.

There is something rather pathetic in this essay in fine writing. It seems
as if Carter were unable to write familiarly and comfortably about the
daily business of living in this most fascinating of lands. He surely did
not have to impress his mother and those relations and family friends
who might have read this letter in Swaffham. He continues then with a
long account of a thunder-storm - ‘for three consecutive Octobers we
have had heavy downpours, and this time a peculiar phenomenon
occurred. While we as dry as a bone, the larger valleys suddenly became
seething rivers.’ Here his attempts at painting a word picture of the storm
are rather more successful. It was indeed difficult for him to find words
adequate to describe the fury of the event:

The Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, joined by the Great Western
valley, in a few moments became litde short of mountain rivers . . . the
torrent cutting out wide furows [sic\ in the valley bed and rolling
before it stones some two feet in diametre — natives returning home
with their animals were unable to ford it, and thus were cut off from
their homes.

Further descriptions of the results of the desert storm and of the subse-
quent valley storm (of far less intensity), lead him to an awkward,
uncomfortable, final passage:

Well dear Mater enough of oneself, local colour and our troubles. How
are you welfaring? — And the rest? I trust all well and flourishing as
times allow. The telegrams are certainly good [about the progress of
the war], things seem to be ripping along nicely — hurrah! Though the
peace, what shall I say ‘SCARE’ one must for the moment take with a
pinch of salt.

These words are so unlike anything in the easily written, chatty, letters he
sent to those with whom he now felt himself to be in greater intimacy —
Lord Carnarvon, the Newberrys, even Alan Gardiner. It is as if he had
lost the ability to communicate easily with his mother, perhaps felt guilt
of neglecting her, and found it difficult to express true affection. Because

233

HOWARD CARTER

of the war he had not been home for over two years, had written rarely,
and so, in a kind of embarrassment, substituted pretentiousness for inti-
mate communication in his writing. He ends the letter with ‘let me know
all the news, and accept every kind thought and wish from your loving
son Howard.’

Shortly after this letter was written the war came to an end — a
momentous event that is not marked by any weighty comment in any of
Carter’s surviving correspondence. He was already well advanced with
preparations to open work at Carnarvon’s new concession at Meir. The
decision to dig at this site was taken in the summer. By September Carter
had asked Lord Carnarvon to send out to Egypt the three volumes of
Blackman’s The Rock Tombs of Meir, which had been published in the early
years of the war. Carnarvon took the opportunity of writing to Blackman
for advice: 25

What I am writing to you now is to ask you if you could let me have
any notes on promising ground, ground that has been dug, best places
to camp, in fact anything you think useful. It would be most kind of
you if you could help me in this matter. I fancy the district is large
naturally we shall not interfere with your work.

Blackman may well have felt that Carnarvon and Carter were trespassing
on his own patch of ground, to which he certainly hoped to return when
conditions were more normal. Carnarvon should have been well
informed about the future intentions of the Egypt Exploration Society
(as the Fund was shordy to be known), and his plans to work at Meir did
not apparently raise any doubts or opposition in London. Blackman,
however, was a sensitive, touchy person, not generally popular in Egyp-
tological circles, although highly respected for his scholarship; he might
easily have considered the new excavation an intrusion, repeating the
disturbance caused by the Khashaba excavations pre-war. Carter was to
express shortly some unspecific comments about Blackman’s activities at
Meir, which suggest that there may not have been much of an exchange
of ideas about the site between the two sides. It may also be recorded
that when Blackman published his fourth volume in his Meir series in
1924, he made no mention of the Carnarvon excavation.

25 Letter of 20 September in the School of Archaeology and Oriental Studies in the
University of Liverpool; kindly brought to my attention by the the late Professor
A. F Shore.

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THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

Blackman may have had a better reason for not mentioning the work
that Howard Carter had carried out in the winter of 1918—19, namely
that the results were so disappointing that even to mention them might
have seemed a tactless and even provocative act; especially as Carnarvon
had only recently died when the volume was ready for printing. 26 Carter
never intended, initially at least, to do more than test the site for possible
future work. That this was his plan is inherent in the financial provisions
he made in advance. It was to be a modest, economical, operation.
Writing to Carnarvon on 21 November, he provides estimates which
form fascinating reading: 2 12 men and boy (brought in, presumably
from Thebes), 25 local boys and 2 men; costing £E3.150 for labour and
£E701 for camp expenses: total £E3.851 per die?n, i.e. £E1 15.500 per
mensem, plus £E86.000 for initial costs. At that moment he had in hand a
balance of £E110.125, and he asks for an additional £250. With these
funds he could dig for two months. He would revise this budget after
work had started, as will be seen shortly.

The prospect of working in a new and rather remote place presented
logistical and other problems; in the same letter, Carter told Carnarvon:

Callender, in the Eg. State Rail., if he can get leave, will join me for a
few weeks — he being an engineer with long experience in this country,
especially in the provinces, will be of great help, besides companion-
ship.

It is the first mention of Arthur R. Callender, who was to be Carter’s
right-hand man for technical purposes at the beginning of the
Tutankhamun excavation. Little is known about his history and back-
ground, but by the time of the great discovery he had retired and was
living in a house he had built for himself at Armant, a few miles to the
south of Luxor 28 The season at Meir opened on 1 December, and Carter
did not find things at all easy at the outset. Describing the setting up of
the camp -9 and the problems locally over supplies, he refers to the

antagonistic temperament of the neighbouring population. Wages are
high. The natives most grabbing. Former excavators have not

26 Blackman’s Preface to his Rock Tombs of Meir, IV, is dated 4 December 1923.

27 Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

28 See W. R. Dawson and others, Who Was Who in Egyptology, p. 79.

29 Letter of 3 December in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

235

HOWARD CARTER

improved these conditions, and I regret to say that I fear I must blame
Blackman for the distinct familiar element noticeable particularly
among the better local classes and antiquity gaffirs. They seem to think
that we are here for their pleasure — to gallivant upon their firy [sic]
steeds, and eat gorgeous but horrible repasts; while a favour such as
selling a few eggs, or milk, or bread causes great demurrings - the
local workmen to be pampered to the utmost degree. A dog’s snarl is
not without its uses!!!

What seemed high wages to Carter were by present-day standards
extremely modest. They could only represent a reaction to the inflation
that had overtaken Egypt towards the end of the war. Even with the
revised budget that he submitted to Carnarvon in mid-December, the
season’s expenditure could not be described as excessive. ’" Now he reck-
oned on employing 15 men with tunas (the common hoe/ spade, a kind
of mattock, used by Egyptian farmers, and the traditional excavation
tool), 30 basket boys, 2 foreman, a scribe, a man and a boy. The daily bill
would amount to almost /(E5.000, made up of /(E3.610 for wages, and
/(El. 343 for camp expenses; his initial expenses came to /(E66.560, and a
similar sum might be necessary for winding up. He had enough funds for
one and a half months from 30 November. At Meir they lived in unin-
scribed tombs, as he had done in his first season at Beni Hasan in 1891.

At the end of December Carter could report only disappointing
results.’ 1 Nothing of real interest had been found in the way of objects,
and this was the pattern until he closed down the work on 15 January
1919. Carter’s notes and a meticulous plan of the site, with the locations
of all the rock tombs and indications of the areas excavated by him, are
preserved in the Griffith Institute in Oxford. The Meir adventure had
been even less successful than the Delta excavations at Sakha and
Balamun before the war. It was as if the Fates were determined to thwart
any expansion beyond the Theban field. Yet Thebes was not proving to
be particularly fruitful. There was very little that Carter could tell Lord
Carnarvon to encourage him. It says much for the latter’s determination,
and confidence in Carter, that he continued to finance the work in the

30 Letter of 16 December in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

31 Letter of early January 1919, to Carnarvon in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art,
Carter files. His work specifically involved the clearance of one tomb in Group B of
Blackman’s classification; and the documentation of eleven tomb chapels, i.e. seven
undecorated examples to be added to Blackman’s four decorated chapels.

236

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

Valley of the Kings. On the other hand, success or disappointment in his
excavations made litde difference to die interest and undoubted therapy
he found in his visits to Egypt. He had been unable to leave England
throughout the war years, and his health had in no way been improved by
the denial of the months of winter warmth he had previously been able
to enjoy regularly. So the prospect of a respectable activity to engage him
mentally and, to a moderate extent, physically was much to be welcomed.
Meir had in a sense been a long shot at something different, and possibly
profitable in the way of finds. It was to be Carnarvon’s last excursion
elsewhere in the Nile Valley. The serious business of his main concession
could now be undertaken. Apart from other considerations, the war had
ended while the Meir expedition was in the planning, and a regular
programme of work at Thebes could now surely be expected.

For the immediate future, after the unsatisfactory six weeks at Meir,
there was no possibility of a full season’s work in Thebes. But something
needed to be done to mark the return to peace, and to signal Carnarvon’s
intention to take up his permit for the Valley of the Kings. A very short
campaign was therefore carried out between 19 and 24 February, a bare
week, clearing the area in front of the tomb of Tuthmosis I, deep in the
main valley, and a considerable distance from the workings of the 1917 —
18 season in the East Valley. 32 Very little was found apart from the
remains of foundation deposits, probably uncovered and ‘destroyed by
periodical rains when quantities of water poured over the cliffs above the
tomb’. It was not a serious campaign, but a tidying up of a part of the
Valley floor, a small contribution towards the general clearance down to
bed-rock.

The shortness of the season may, however, have been determined by
political reasons. There was considerable civil unrest in Egypt during the
winter of 1918—19 and the subsequent spring. Soon after the Armistice
in November 1918 a delegation of nationalist politicians, led by Saad
Zaghlul to the High Commissioner, Sir Reginald Wingate, demanded
autonomy for Egypt and declared an intention to send representatives to
London to petition the British government. Refusal and the arrest of
Zaghlul led to rioting throughout the country, and under the circum-
stances Carter may have thought it prudent to close down his dig. His
records do not suggest that this was in fact the case, but from a letter to
Frederic Whiting in Cleveland it emerges that he was from 22 April, to
use his own words, ‘commandeered by the Military authorities as political

32 Notes in G.I. Carter Papers I A, 233-4; I. J, 366-7.

237

HOWARD CARTER

officer for Nag Hamadi district, and was thus unable to continue further
research before taking any leave for home.’ 33 A strange survival from this
time shows that Carter was still in the Nag Hamadi district on 29 May
1919. It is an entry in the autograph album of Anne-Marie-Paule
Lucovich, daughter of Gino Antonio Lucovich, a director of the Egyp-
tian Irrigation Company, and manager of the sugar factory at Nag
Hamadi. 34 The entry, signed by Howard Carter and dated 29 May,
includes a line of hieroglyphs incorporating a standard offering formula
from Egyptian funerary inscriptions, and reading A boon which the
King gives that funerary offerings be granted to the souls of the house of
Lucovitch. Done by Carter.’

FU Hi ra

It is a rare example of Carter in relaxed mood and demonstrating an
unexpected knowledge of hieroglyphs, he even spells Lucovich with an
intrusive, but possibly pronounced (or heard), t (the sign , 3rd from
right end in the main line). The sugar factory at Nag Hamadi has always
been a centre of social life in the part of Egypt between Abydos and
Dendera, and would naturally have attracted Carter during his period of
enforced duty in the neighbourhood.

He at last managed to get away from Egypt on 25 June. It was his first
home leave in three years, and he surely had many calls to make, many
relations, old colleagues and friends to see. Details of his movements are
almost wholly lacking, and this absence of information is much the same

33 Letter written from Swaffham on 17 August 1918, in the archives of the Cleveland
Museum of Art.

34 I am grateful to Miss Deirdre Le Faye, a former colleague in the British Museum,
daughter of Anne-Marie-Paule Lucovich, for permission to reproduce the autograph,
and for information on the Lucovich family. Her mother would have been 1 6 years old
in 1919.

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THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

for subsequent annual home leaves up to 1922. He was not entirely idle
from the Egyptological point of view. There are in the Griffith Institute,
and also in the Egyptian Department of the Metropolitan Museum,
substantial notes on the history of Egyptian glass — a general account
based on the many pieces in the Carnarvon collection. From internal
evidence in these papers it is clear that he spent considerable periods of
time during his leaves at Highclere Castle, working closely with Lord
Carnarvon on the collection in general and on the preparation of a
detailed catalogue. The section on glass seems to have been the most
advanced part. There were also plans to transfer at least part of the
collection to Carnarvon’s Town house at 1 Seamore Place, Wl. Again
Carter was involved in making the necessary preparations for new
vitrines to accommodate the selected pieces. Life at Highclere during
these stays was certainly not without diversions of a more conventional
country-house kind. The incidental entertainments are neatly encapsu-
lated in a few remarks to Percy Newberry, written from Highclere in
September 1 921 : 35 ‘Have been here practically the whole time — shooting
and arranging antiqs. Today we shot again and Friday and Saturday racing
at Newbury.’ This way of life suited Carter perfectly. He was now very
much at ease in these rather grand surroundings; more so than he would
have been in the simpler circumstances of the Sporle Road cottage in
Swaffham. His visits to Norfolk were brief, especially as his mother died
in December 1920; but he did spend longer periods with his brother
Samuel, who lived at 10B Collingham Gardens (and later at no. 19), just
north of the Brompton Road and within a few hundred yards of Rich
Terrace, the Carter London home until the mid-1890s. He used Samuel’s
address for many years as one of convenience in London, although he
also made use of the Constitutional Club in Northumberland Avenue,
close to Trafalgar Square. Later in the 1920s he changed from the
Constitutional Club to the Savile, then in Piccadilly, but now at 69 Brook
Street, near Grosvenor Square. It was a kind of superior gipsy existence
that he lived when he was on leave. His true home had now become the
house at Elwat el-Diban in western Thebes, and so it remained until the
end of his life. In due time, however, he found it necessary to have some-
thing more permanent for himself in London, a need that was intensified
after Carnarvon’s death, which effectively closed Highclere Castle to him.
Also after his mother’s death Swaffham was not so compelling a place to
visit. A note in his diary for 25 April 1922 states that he took possession

35 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/63.

239

HOWARD CARTER

of the flat no. 12 at 11 King Street, St James’s, but this was probably only
a short-term occupation of a furnished flat for the summer leave of that
year for in the immediate subsequent summers he used the Collingham
Gardens address.

A new activity took up some of his time in London during the
summers following the war. This was acting as the occasional adviser in
Egyptian antiquities to Sotheby’s, the Bond Street auctioneers. It may
have arisen out of the assistance he had given to the Amhersts in the
disposal of parts of the Didlington collection. Mention has already been
made of the help he gave in 1915 to Lady Amherst (Lady William Cecil)
to sell the seven great Sakhmet statues to the Metropolitan Museum. In
1919 his services were again used by the Metropolitan for the negotiation
of the purchase from the Cecils of a seated pair-statue of the scribe
Nebwau and his wife Tenethat. This piece had been noted by Lythgoe
even before the war, and Carter, writing to him in June 1915 said: 36 ‘In
regard to the statue at Norwich it is best left until, as you suggest, later,
the more so as there are lots of other things I think you ought to see.’ The
acquisition was finally clinched in 1919, and it was followed shortly after
by the decision to sell the remaining objects from the Amherst collection
at Sotheby’s. It was very sensible to commission Carter to make the sale
catalogue. He had known the Amherst collection since the 1880s, and
had in his early years spent much time working on it for Lord Amherst.
Already in February 1920 Carter had written to Frederic Whiting in
Cleveland warning him of the forthcoming sale, and suggesting that he
might be able to help Cleveland to acquire good pieces. 3. He was in a
position to let Cleveland see proofs of the catalogue in the winter of
1920—1, some months in advance of the sale. 38 Unfortunately Cleveland
had relatively small funds for purchase at this time, although a great effort
was made to raise a sum sufficient to meet the expected costs of the
Carter proposals. At the sale, which lasted at Sotheby’s from 13 to 17 June
1921, rather higher prices than Carter had expected prevailed, and only a

36 The relevant letters are in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files; Lythgoe
to Carter of 4 May 1915; Carter to Lythgoe of 4 June 1915; Lythgoe to Carter of 26
February 1919. For the pair statue see W. C. Hayes The Scepter of Egypt (New York,
1953, 1959), II, pp. 158£; now numbered 19.2.3.

37 Letter of 18 February 1920 in the archives of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

38 See T. G. H. James in E. H. Turner, Object Eessons, p. 74. Carter also offered to act for
Chicago, but funds were not readily available; see letters of Carter to Breasted (12
March 1921) and Breasted to Carter (14 June 1921) in O.I. Director’s Office Corr.
1921.

240

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

few of his selected pieces fell to Cleveland. The Metropolitan Museum,
with greater resources, was more successful; advised by Mace, who bid on
the Museum’s behalf in London, it acquired, among other tilings, many of
the objects from El-Amarna which Carter himself had excavated under
Petrie’s guidance in 1892.

In the following year, 1922, he was again engaged by Sotheby’s to cata-
logue antiquities which he described in his diary entry for 8 May as ‘Sir
Frederick Frankland’s papyri’. Frankland, a baronet in his own right, had
married into the Curzon family, his wife being the seventeenth Baroness
Zouche. The antiquities were remnants of the collection formed by
Robert Curzon, fourteenth Baron Zouche, whose travels in Egypt and the
Near East are memorably recorded in his T 'hits to the Monasteries in the
. Levant , first published in 1849. This small collection of about 30 lots was
sold in Bond Street on 2 November 1922. A much more important sale of
Egyptian antiquities had taken place, again at Sotheby’s, over nine days in
June of the same year. It involved the remarkable collection of the Revd
William MacGregor of Tamworth, at the time far larger in number, and
more important, than the much reduced Amherst collection. The
MacGregor sale yielded a total of £34,000 compared with the 1921 sum of
£14,533 for the Amherst, by no means negligible, residue.’ 9 Howard
Carter was not involved in the cataloguing of the MacGregor objects for
Sotheby’s, although he may well have been engaged in some of the negoti-
ations which led to MacGregor’s decision to place his collection in the
hands of the auctioneers. From a few surviving letters it emerges that
Carter and Newberry suffered a severe rupture in their friendship over the
sale, a disagreement that also involved the Hon. Richard Bethell, a
collector of Egyptian antiquities and a mutual friend of the others. Retro-
spectively the row can be seen as both a cautionary event and as a fiasco. It
offers an object lesson in how the secretive negotiations which seem inev-
itably to attend transactions in the world of fine art and antiquities sales
can lead to complications and misunderstandings. It seems that
MacGregor, deciding to sell his collection - in 1921 he was 73 years old -
placed the matter at first in the hands of Messrs Spink and Son, the repu-
table dealers of King Street, St James’s. Percy Newberry, on the one hand,
was consulted and undertook negotiations with possible purchasers.
Howard Carter and Richard Bethell, on the other hand, and separately,
were interested, and perhaps actively involved, in securing the sale of the

39 The total sums are recorded in Dawson and others. Who Was Who in Egyptology, p. 268.

(MacGregor), and 14 (Amherst).

241

HOWARD CARTER

whole collection to a single unspecified client. Neither side apparendy
knew precisely what was happening, but by September 1921 Newberry
and Carter had exchanged petulant letters, and were distinctly out of
sympathy with each other. 411 The problem between them is made generally,
but not precisely, clear, in a letter of mollification written by Bethell to
Newberry on 30 September. It followed up another of a few days (unspec-
ified) earlier in which Bethell had said: ‘It seems a great pity that we didn’t
all work together from the beginning. I should hate you and Carter to
really seriously quarrel.’ The following letter is more informative:

Now let me explain things as I see them.

Carter and I quite understood that McG [MacGregor] had
approached Spink (like a fool) in the first place and that Spink had
called you in and that therefore you were unable to tell us the amount
of Spink’s option etc, but we were under the impression that you stood
in with Spink anyhow, whether our buyer or anyone else bought the
collection.

Therefore, hoping as he did up to the last moment that he would
pull it off, Carter did not think it necessary to tell either you or Spink
that he had failed, as the option definitely ceased on the 3rd Sept.

That is to say we thought that if we pulled off the deal, we should
make a bit for ourselves and also for you, and that if we did not, you
still stood a chance if another buyer came along. I am sure that
nothing was farther from our thoughts than any idea of doing you out
of your chance, and I am dreadfully sorry to hear that we have unwit-
tingly done so, at any rate temporarily. I am sure you will see that this
puts a different complexion on our actions . . .

Please have a quiet talk with him over things, and I am sure every-
thing can be explained.

Bethell’s intervention appears to have worked, for friendly letters were
passing between Carter and Newberry before the end of the year. But
the expectations of all parties to make something out of the private sale
of the MacGregor collection were frustrated. On 24 October 1921
Newberry cabled to Breasted in Chicago: ‘MacGregor’s entire Egyptian
collection in market; price thirty-five thousand pounds. Could Chicago
buy. Would come over about it if you think advisable.’ Breasted asked for
more information, but was not hopeful, and tried to prevent Newberry’s

40 G.I. Newberry Corr. 4/98-100.

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THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

making a futile visit. 41 At the end of November Newberry travelled to
Chicago, but was unsuccessful. Subsequently the collection was placed
with Sotheby’s; Newberry compiled the catalogue and wrote an introduc-
tion; and the result of the sale, as noted earlier, was within one thousand
pounds of the sum suggested by Newberry to Breasted.

Howard Carter had more to worry him in the autumn of 1921 than the
future of the MacGregor collection. The first surviving hint of his
trouble comes in a letter to Whiting in Cleveland on 12 October: 42

It was my intention, and I had made all arrangements to leave for
Egypt on the 20th of this month, but unfortunately I have been indis-
posed this last few weeks and I am now obliged to undergo a serious
abdominal operation. Thus under the most favourable conditions I
cannot expect to be able to return until well into December next.

It was, it seems, an operation for the removal of his gall bladder and it
was carried out in Leeds, apparently by the famous abdominal surgeon
Sir Berkeley Moynihan, who had operated on Lord Carnarvon for the
removal of his appendix in 1918. 43 Carter could not have been in better
hands, and he was able to write to Whiting again on 2 December:

I returned this week after 6 weeks in hospital in Leeds and am at last
able to attend business matters ... As I shall have to remain convales-
cent in England for another 6 weeks I shall not be able to return to
Egypt until well into January next - in fact, I have booked my passage
for 19 Jan. 1922.

His recuperation took place in Carnarvon’s house in Seamore Place, and
it was from there that he wrote to Mrs Newberry on 22 December: 44 ‘My
wound healed last week, am now free of nurses and look forward to

41 Letters of J. H. Breasted to Newberry in G.I. Newberry Corr. 5/105-8.

42 The two letters to Whiting are in the archives of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

43 Sir Berkeley Moynihan (later Baron Moynihan) was on close terms with the Carnar-
vons, and in the 1920s, when he first began operating regularly in London, he made
use of a nursing home run by Lady Carnarvon; see Geoffrey Keynes, The Gates of
Memory (Oxford, 1981), p. 362, and Donald Bateman, Berkeley Moynihan. Surgeon
(London, 1940), p. 286. Bateman also mentions Moynihan’s deep interest in ancient
Egypt, and meetings with Carter, pp. 245, 325.1 am grateful to Dr Anne Savage for
bringing these volumes to my attention.

44 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/64 and 65.

243

HOWARD CARTER

returning to Egypt in January.’ From the same address he wrote to
Newberry himself on 17 January, chiefly about proofs of the catalogue of
an exhibition organized by the Burlington Fine Arts Club (of which he
was a member for most of his life). 45 but adding, ‘I’m off on Thursday
for Egypt’. That was 19 January, the very day he had mentioned to
Whiting in early December.

Carter’s diary entries for 1 922 show that as soon as he arrived in Egypt
on 25 January he launched himself into an active programme of visits to
the antiquities dealers of Cairo and (after 2 February) Luxor. He records
many purchases for Lord Carnarvon, for himself, and for Joseph J.
Acworth, a British collector of choice small antiquities who intensified his
collecting after his retirement in 1919. On 7 February Lord Carnarvon
arrived, and the following day the excavations were resumed in the Valley
of die Kings. Work for the season was concentrated in the upper part of
the main valley leading to the tomb of Tuthmosis III, and more specifi-
cally in the region of the tomb of Siptah, a king of the Nineteenth
Dynasty (c. 1204—1198 B.C.). This last tomb had been first excavated by
Ayrton for Theodore Davis in 1905, and its environs were cluttered with
‘large mounds of rubbish thrown out during the excavation ... Its
removal took 10 days with 40 men and 120 boys.’ It was a short and
unproductive season, ending early in March. Carter, who was still recov-
ering from his surgery, left Thebes for Cairo on 13 March, Carnarvon
staying on in Luxor. On 28 March Carter returned south and on the
following day Carnarvon left for Europe. Carter followed from Luxor on
5 April, and from Cairo on 10 April. Busy buying had gone on at the end
of the digging season in Cairo and Luxor, and it may be thought that
much consideration was given to the future of the Theban operations.

The unsatisfactory results of the 1922 season largely repeated the
outcome of the two preceding seasons. 46 In 1920 Carter had worked
from 5 January to 16 March clearing areas near the entrance to the main
valley, from the tomb of Ramesses IV to that of Ramesses II. In mid-
February Carter was joined by Lord Carnarvon and his small party.
Carnarvon himself stayed with Carter on the hill at Elwat el-Diban, an
arrangement which made his daily journeys to the site much less

45 The exhibition was held in 1921, but the catalogue, edited (anonymously) by P. E.
Newberry and H. R. H. Hall, did not appear until 1922: Burlington Vine Arts Club. Cata-
logue of an Exhibition of Ancient Egyptian Art.

46 The details of the sites dug and objects found in the seasons 1920—2 are given in C. N.
Reeves, Valley of the Kings , pp. 326ff.

244

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

laborious than if he had lived across the river, as had been his custom.
The rest of his party stayed in the Winter Palace. Commenting on the
presence of Lady Carnarvon and their daughter Evelyn Herbert, and on
Carnarvon’s ever-presence, Carter told Newberry, What with the men in
the Valley my hands are well full’. 47 For once, a small success attended
their work. On 26 February a cache of thirteen fine alabaster vessels was
found in a deposit in the debris at the entrance to the tomb of King
Merenptah. It was a modest discovery, but in the context of discoveries
during the seasons of the Carnarvon campaign, it was, as Carter later
said, 48 ‘the nearest approach to a real find that we had yet made in The
Valley . . . Lady Carnarvon, I remember, insisted on digging out these
jars - beautiful specimens they were — with her own hands.’ The jars,
clearly connected with the burial of Merenptah, and inscribed with his
names and with those of his father Ramesses II, were reused to contain
oils and other materials for the embalming and burial of Merenptah.

In the following winter an early start was made. On 1 December 1920
Carter continued clearing the small lateral valley leading from the main
valley at a point a little to the north-east of the tomb of Ramesses VI to
that of Merenptah. His next intention was to clear the area near the
entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI where workmen’s huts had been
found in earlier work. Here, however, his progress was limited, As he
explained in his entry for 2 January 1921: ‘As one is unable to cut away
the path in front of T9 (R VI) [i.e. tomb no.9 of Ramesses VI] during the
tourist season and the coming visit of the Sultan, have removed men for
the time being to another portion of the valley.’ Most of the remainder of
the season was spent in the end of the Valley towards the tomb of Tuth-
mosis III. Work came to an end on 3 March. It was in the same area that
he worked in the short season of early 1922.

Apart from the disheartening results of their excavations in the Valley
of the Kings, Carnarvon and Carter were also anxious about the changed
policy with regard to excavations and divisions pursued by Pierre Lacau
since the war. The dispute over the granting of a permit to dig at El-
Amarna was engaged and lost in 1918; the problem of partage had not
seriously affected them in the intervening years. In the case of the cache
of alabaster vessels found in 1920, a very equitable division had been
made: of the thirteen jars, six were allotted to the excavators. 49 It was,

47 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/61.

48 Carter and Mace, The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , I , p. 83.

49 The division certificate is preserved in G.I. Carter Papers I C, 213.

245

HOWARD CARTER

perhaps, not a great act of generosity on the part of the Antiquities
Service, and it could not have been seen as a measure of what might be
expected if finds of greater diversity and value were to be made in the
future. As far as the Carnarvon work was concerned, it was still
controlled by the licence first issued and signed by Daressy on 18 April
1915, and most recendy renewed on 26 January 1921. The significant
Articles of the permit were 8, 9 and 10 (see p. 414), by which the Antiq-
uities Service undertook, after reserving royal mummies and coffins, and
other objects of capital importance, to ‘share the remainder with the
Permittee’, and agreeing ‘that the Permittee’s share will sufficiently
recompense him for the pains and labour of the undertaking’. So much
depended on the interpretation of these statements. There was litde,
from the experience of others, to inspire confidence in what would
happen if there were good finds to be divided.

The possible results of Lacau’s new policy were bitterly resented by
foreign archaeologists, especially those from Britain and die USA, most
of whom represented institutions which were only prepared to finance
expensive excavations if there was an expectation of good returns of
objects. Alan Gardiner, both as a representative of the Egypt Explora-
tion Society, and as a friend of Carnarvon, felt it his duty to pursue the
argument directly with Lacau on a personal level. From 1 920 onwards he
wrote numerous letters and put together with others a series of memo-
randa on the subject.’ 11 His own concern lay more with the outcome of
excavations and the need to publish results; but he appreciated the
special interest in partage which was the particular stumbling block for
excavators. A little leniency in the last matter might persuade the excava-
tors to accept more easily the other conditions proposed by Lacau.

Among foreign missions, the one most likely to suffer seriously was
the Egyptian Expedition of die Metropolitan Museum of Art. Concern
permeated all levels of the staff of their expedition. Lindsley Hall, an
artist-draughtsman, who worked principally at Lisht, but also in Luxor,
noted in his diary for 8 April 1920: 51

50 Documents on the subject are to be found in G.I. Gardiner Papers; his letter to Lacau,
AHG/42, 176. 16; also AHG/39. 37-49.

51 Lindsley Hall, a native of Portland Oregon, spent his career with the Metropolitan
Museum, returning to Portland after retirement. His diaries and other papers are in the
archives of the Oregon Historical Society, Portland. I am indebted to Thomas
Vaughan, formerly Director of the Society, and his staff for making my visit to Port-
land so profitable.

246

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

M. Lacau and Mr. Engelbach teaed with us this P.M. E. is new antiqui-
ties inspector in this district. Mons. L. came to see about the ‘division’
of our finds. He is inclined to want all the ‘pieces capitales’ for the
Cairo Museum.

Next year, on 4 April at Lisht, he comments:

Mace had a wire ‘No division’ from Winlock today, whereby we knew
that Lacau has seen the sarcophagus and wants it for Cairo. As he
wants a great deal of our other material, too, it has been decided to
wait till next year for the division, as we should come out so badly this
year if we accepted Lacau’s division.

Albert Lythgoe, the head of the Egyptian Expedition, prepared in early
1922 a general briefing statement for the benefit of the American diplo-
matic representative in Egypt, Dr J. Morton Howell, and for the Director
of the Museum, setting out the stark possibilities of the situation as he
saw it. 52 In a concluding paragraph he drew attention to the universal
opposition of all British and American Egyptologists, who feared that
the changes would mean ‘the ruination of what we have all been endeav-
ouring to accomplish in scientific results during the past twenty-five
years.’ But, as with Carter over El-Amarna in 1918, the argument was
one which the foreign excavators could scarcely win. The archaeologists
of other countries — for the most part not having the same pressures to
satisfy museum trustees and other expectant individuals and institutions
- were prepared to go on working under the modified conditions. The
new political climate in Egypt was not favourable to the privileged
requirements of foreigners; and the administrative authorities were not
inclined to interfere with the detailed running of the Antiquities Service.
The problem, however, was one of real concern to the British and Amer-
ican excavators, and it would very shortly result in a crisis of major
severity after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Here it may be
added that the expectations of excavators in the matter of divisions have
continued to cause difficulties in Egypt. Yet the reduction in the
percentage of objects allotted to foreign missions, although continuous
and always regretted, has rarely halted the increase in the number of
institutions wishing to excavate in the country.

52 Department of Egyptian Art, file on Antiquities Law 1922—3; the full text in

Hoving, Tutankhamun. The Untold Story, pp. 68f.

247

HOWARD CARTER

At this point it would be opportune to consider what precisely
Howard Carter was hoping to find in the Valley of the Kings during the
years of generally fruitless activity since 1917. A chapter, ‘Our prefatory
work at Thebes’, in the first volume of The Tomb of Tut.cmkh.Amen ,
written by Carter and Arthur Mace and published within a year of the
tomb’s discovery, sets out Carter’s own interest in Valley excavation, and
also charts the course of the work conducted for Lord Carnarvon from
1914 onwards. At the outset, in spite of Theodore Davis’s stated belief
that the site was exhausted, a view supported by Maspero, We
[Carnarvon and Carter] . . . were quite sure that there were areas, covered
by dumps of previous excavators, which had not properly been exam-
ined.’ Carter further declared, ‘. . . at the risk of being accused of post
actum prescience, I will state that we had definite hopes of finding the
tomb of one particular king, and that king Tut.ankh.Amen.’ (page 76).
He then reviews the reasons for this expectation. First, there had been
the discovery by Theodore Davis in 1909 of a few objects bearing that
king’s name. Davis was convinced that he had found his tomb, badly
plundered, and he published it as such in his last volume, The Tombs of
Harcnhabi and Touatdnkhamanou in 1912. Carter rightly dismissed the iden-
tification, noting that the tomb in which fragments of gold foil and an
uninscribed alabaster statuette had been found was too insignificant to
have been royal; the objects had clearly been placed there at a later date,
but had in all probability come from the proper tomb of Tutankhamun. 53
This deposit was close to the tomb of Horemheb, and the indications
were that any tomb of Tutankhamun should be not very far away. A
small faience pot, bearing the king’s name, was also found not very far
away. Additionally Davis had found, in 1907, an extraordinary deposit of
vessels which was of so little interest to him that it was passed unstudied
to the Metropolitan Museum in 1909, at the request of Herbert Winlock.
In a fascinating essay of 1941, Winlock identified the contents of the
vessels as some of the embalming materials, and part of the funerary
feast, of Tutankhamun.’ 4 Although he did not publish his findings until
after Carter’s death, he makes it clear in his description that his conclu-
sions were of some years’ standing. 55 ‘In the early 1920’s ... I began to

53 See also, C. N. Reeves, Valley of the Kings , pp. 72f.

54 H. E. Winlock, Materials used at the Embalming of King Tut-‘ankh-Amun (New York,
1941).

55 Doubts about the history of the objects before they were deposited in the cache are
voiced in C. N. Reeves, Valley of the Kings , p. 69.

248

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

realize what Theodore Davis had discovered - obviously fragments of
embalming materials and scraps from the funeral meal of King Tut-
‘ankh-Amun.’ (Page 7 and note 6). He also notes, ‘Eventually I gave
Howard Carter further information about the End and he used it in The
Tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen (London 1923-33), I, p. 77 and II, p. 97.’ Finally,
Carter drew attention to the presence of mud-sealings bearing the name
of Tutankhamun in the remarkable collection of funerary material
published by Davis as the tomb of Queen Tiye, wife of Amenophis III.
Carter, probably rightly, considered much of the contents of this cache to
have been brought from El-Amarna for reburial at Thebes, in the reign
of Tutankhamun (page 78). He claimed:

With all this evidence before us we were thoroughly convinced in our
own minds that the Tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen was still to find, and that
it ought to be situated not far from the centre of The Valley.

It may be questioned whether Carter’s thinking about what might be
found followed precisely the line of clues set out in The Tomb ofTut.ankh.
Amen, vol. 1. When Winlock wrote to him in 1915 56 with a list of the
Metropolitan Museum holdings of objects from the Valley of the Kings,
he drew special attention to the cache materials found by Davis, but he
did not then present his idea about the embalming nature of these mate-
rials. Indeed it is not clear when Winlock’s interpretation was
propounded, but probably not until a late stage in Carter’s campaign.
There is no mention of Tutankhamun in any of his excavation documen-
tation right up to 1922. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that he
had undertaken a study of the history of the Valley of the Kings during
the war, and that from the records of ancient robberies and of modern
discoveries there was no indication that Tutankhamun’s tomb had ever
been found or robbed. It is hard to believe that Carter had not placed the
name of that seemingly unimportant, late Eighteenth-dynasty king high
on his list of possibilities. Furthermore, Alan Gardiner records:” 7

On November 6th 1922 Carnarvon telephoned me at Lansdowne
Road saying that he had just received a cable from Carter, in Luxor,
saying that he had made a wonderful discovery . . . and Carnarvon

56 I am grateful to Marsha Hill for drawing my attention to Winlock’s letter of 15 June

1915, to Carter, in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

57 Gardiner, My Working Years , p. 37.

249

HOWARD CARTER

asked me whether it could possibly be the tomb of Tut‘ankhamun. I
replied that I was not well up in the history of the Valley and that we
should have to wait and see.

At that moment Carter had still not found the impressions of the tell-tale
seals with Tutankhamun’s names on the plastered blocking of the tomb
entrance. Yet Carnarvon had the king’s name in mind — a sure indication
that his tomb was a prime candidate for discovery. It must be concluded
that towards the end of his Valley campaign, Carter’s own belief was that
if he found a royal tomb in the area where he was working, it would most
probably be that of Tutankhamun. Carnarvon would have known this,
but possibly few others. Carter was ever one to play his cards close to his
chest; early misjudgements over discoveries had undoubtedly made him
cautious. That he could subsequently bring together the various clues
pointing to the likelihood of the existence of a tomb — possibly intact —
of Tutankhamun, and claim that it had been the subject of his search
from the beginning, was only moderately disingenuous. Under the
circumstances he could well be excused for what he wrote about ‘post
actum prescience.’

In the end it was the tomb’s discovery that mattered, and it remains
the stuff of high drama, even romance, that the discovery was ever
made under Carter’s direction. The story goes that Carnarvon had come
to the sad conclusion that no further work should be done in the Valley.
Carter himself records^ that ‘it became a much debated question
whether we should continue to work or try for a more profitable site
elsewhere. After these barren years were we justified in going on with it?
My own feeling was that so long as a single area of untouched ground
remained the risk was worth taking’ During the summer of 1922 — the
precise date appears to be unrecorded in the parts of Carter’s diary for
the year which have survived - Carnarvon invited Carter down to High-
clere to discuss the future. 59 He was for giving up the Valley, and he put
the matter starkly to Carter. The latter had come prepared with argu-
ments in support of at least one more season. He could point on the map
to that small area still uncleared to bed-rock, and encumbered with the
remains of ancient huts, just below the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses

58 Carter and Mace, The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , I, p. 85.

59 An account of what happened at Highclere is given by Charles Breasted in his biog-
raphy of his father James Henry Breasted, Pioneer of the Past (New York, 1943), pp.
327f£, on the basis of what Carter himself told him.

250

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND DISCOVERY

VI. It had been left undisturbed because work in the neighbourhood of
that much-visited tomb would have been singularly unpopular during the
tourist season. Carter’s proposal was that a last season, starting earlier
than usual, should be devoted to this area, and he offered to meet the
costs himself if Carnarvon felt unable to continue. Inevitably, Carnarvon
was persuaded by Carter’s devotion and generosity, and agreed. In the
course of this crucial meeting, it is said, Tutankhamun’s name was specif-
ically mentioned.

It has been suggested that what Carter had offered to do in guaran-
teeing the expenses of the last season was exceptionally generous. ‘A
prodigious sum’ has been mentioned. 6 " It is unlikely, however, that the
kind of season Carter had in mind would have cost much more than a
few hundred pounds. To remove the stone huts and to clear a relatively
small area down to bed-rock would need a small staff of skilled workmen
and basket boys — scarcely as many as he had used at Meir, at a total cost
of about ^5.000 per day. The overhead expenses of a dig away from
Luxor would be avoided; he could live at home; so too most of his
workmen. There is no doubt, therefore, that a limited season could be
conducted economically, and that he would be able to fund it himself,
probably from his profits from lucrative antiquities dealing. It would be a
mistake to think that if he had paid the bills he would have been seriously
damaged financially.

So, with a season’s work guaranteed, Howard Carter left England to
take a boat from Marseilles on 5 October. On 1 1 October he arrived in
Cairo and spent the next two weeks visiting the antiquities dealers,
Nahman, Tano, Abemayor, Mansur, and possibly others, purchasing on
behalf of Lord Carnarvon and himself. When he arrived in Luxor on 27
October he brought with him a new and, for him, original pet, but very
appropriate in view of his great love for birds. Winlock later wrote to
Edward Robinson, his Director: 61

When Carter came out last November \sic \ , alone, he got a canary bird,
in Cairo, in a gilded cage to cheer up what he figured was going to be a
lonely and deserted house. Carter comes over to his house with his
servant Abdel A1 carrying the canary behind him and the guards and
the reises greet him and right off, when they see a golden bird they say,
‘Mabrook - it’s a bird of gold that will bring luck. This year we will

60 So Hoving, in Tutankhamun. The Untold Story ; p. 73.

61 Letter of 28 March 1923 in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter Files.

251

HOWARD CARTER

find, inshallah, a tomb full of gold.’ Within a week they had made the
most fabulous find of all time and at first the tomb was called ‘The
tomb of the Golden Bird’ by the natives. That canary almost had a
halo around its cage. 62

On 28 October Carter went to Armant to visit his friend Arthur
Callender, presumably a social visit only, for the events that would cause
Carter to summon Callender to Luxor still lay, unsuspected, a few days
ahead.

Work began on 1 November in front of the tomb of Ramesses VI. In
his work diary, his first entry, after noting the start of excavations, is listed
‘item 433’; the numbering resumes his series of excavated finds in the
Valley, 6 ’ which had begun in February 1915 with the fragment of an
alabaster shabti figure of Queen Tiye, found near the entrance to the
tomb of King Amenophis III. Item 433 is given as ‘Entrance of tomb
of’; on the opposite page he adds, ‘in bed rock floor of water course
(below entrance of R VI). Discovered 4th Nov. 1922’. On 6 November
Carnarvon received the cable about which he telephoned Alan Gardiner:

AT LAST HAVE MADE WONDERFUL DISCOVERY IN THE
VALLEY. A MAGNIFICENT TOMB WITH SEALS INTACT. RE-
COVERED SAME FOR YOUR ARRIVAL. CONGRATULA-
TIONS. CARTER

62 On the sad fate of this bird, and on its apparent replacement, see p. 352 below.

63 G.I. Carter Papers I J, 387; for the first find, see I. A, 123 and I J, 386.

252

THE ANTECHAMBER

One of the most thrilling and moving comments in the history of archae-
ological discovery is that which Howard Carter made to Lord Carnarvon
when the latter enquired about what could be seen through the small
hole cut into the newly discovered tomb on the afternoon of 26
November 1922. ‘Can you see anything?’ 1 asked Carnarvon. ‘Yes,
wonderful things,’ answered Carter. These three words are enough to
conjure up for many the image of the gorgeous, but tumbled, treasures
that made the first chamber of the tomb, to be called the Antechamber,
look rather like a superior box-room. ‘Yes, wonderful things’ is now
firmly part of the story of the discovery, part, it may rightly be said, of
the mythology of the discovery. Carter’s more immediate journal
account, on which the later, published, narrative (prepared by Arthur
Mace) was based, gives his reply as ‘Yes, it is wonderful.’ 2 Carnarvon
himself, in a short, unpublished report on the discovery, has Carter
saying, ‘There are some marvellous objects here.’ 3 It may be supposed
that none of the accounts is precise in this one small matter. ‘So much’, it
may be said, ‘for verbatim reporting’ It does not much matter, for now
the evocative ‘Yes, wonderful things’ is so clearly the best expression of
what was felt by Carter on that momentous occasion, that any attempt to
put the record straight would seem to be mean-minded and pointless,
and would probably be by no means invested with certainty.

From time to time in this account of Carter’s life, it has been pointed
out that he was often guilty of apparent untruthfulness whenever he
wrote about his past, whether it was distant or recent. When variant

1 H. Carter and A. C. Mace, The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen (London, 1923—33), I, p. 96.

2 In G.I. Carter Notebook 1.

3 M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files; reproduced in Appendix III.

253

HOWARD CARTER

accounts of an event exist, judgement supported by independent
evidence needs to be exercised. In most cases where error can be
detected the faults are of little concern; Carter had what may be termed a
careless memory, and lacked the true scholar’s impelling need to check
his references. In the case of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun,
his own uncertain regard for precision was compounded by the interven-
tion of others who, in writing at the time and later, provided the ingredi-
ents for a rich mixture of myth and imagination. It is not the intention of
this narrative to consider every divergence and variant in the many
accounts of the discovery, but to rely principally on the outline of the
story set out in the first volume of The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen, which, as
mentioned above, was composed by Mace, of whom Carter said in his
Preface, ‘I should add that the preparation of this book has fallen largely
on his shoulders.’ This Preface is dated in August 1923, and tire book
itself appeared in the autumn, within a year of the discovery. It does
therefore represent an account of very considerable immediacy, written
by someone who, from the evidence of his other archaeological publica-
tions, had a superior devotion to precision - it would be unfair to say
‘truth’ - than Howard Carter. In the same Preface Carter pays tribute
also to ‘my dear friend Mr. Percy White, the novelist, Professor of
English Literature in the Egyptian University, for his ungrudging literary
help.’ An old friend of Carter’s, White was to play an increasingly impor-
tant part in the preparation of the second volume on the tomb, which
came out in 1926. His help is acknowledged in the Preface to that
volume but from what Carter says, no mention would have pleased
White more. He had no hand in the writing of volume three.

The bare outline of the early days of the discovery can be extracted
with confidence from the vivid narrative contained in the initial volume
of Carter’s popular account. Work in the Valley of the Kings had
reopened on 1 November 1922, and by the evening of the 3rd the
ancient workmen’s huts lying close to the entrance of the tomb of King
Ramesses VI had been planned and removed in readiness for the clear-
ance of that part of the Valley down to bed-rock. It is perhaps idle to
speculate about Carter’s expectations at this juncture. He knew that he
was at the start of what would be his last season; experience of recent
years could provide little encouragement for his efforts; but his original
strategy had aimed at systematic clearance, and at this point he had the
opportunity to clear a triangular area which had been deliberately left so
as not to impede tourist entry into the popular tomb of Ramesses VI. So

254

THE ANTECHAMBER

matters could proceed according to plan. His workmen were experi-
enced; they knew what to do. Here the clearance of flood-deposited
debris was scarcely excavation, and work could begin in the morning of 4
November under the supervision of his long-serving foreman, Reis
Ahmed Gerigar. By the time Carter turned up, the first portentous step
leading down to the tomb had been found. Whether it was discovered
not beneath the site of one of the huts, as the volume states, but else-
where, and by a water-boy, the junior member of Carter’s gang, as Lee
Keedick later recorded, 4 is not a matter to be worried about. Something
significant had at last been discovered, and Carter, well experienced and
backed by intimate knowledge of the archaeology of the royal tombs,
could at once move into top gear, hoping for a useful End but probably
not expecting more than the disappointment of a rifled sepulchre.

Then followed the well charted course that led to the revelations of 26
November. Enough of the stairway was cleared by the afternoon of the
day after the discovery to reveal a blocked entrance stamped with the
Necropolis seal, showing a device of the jackal of Anubis, divine protector
of the Necropolis, set above nine bound captives, the representative
enemies of the Egyptian king. Here then, it seemed, was the portal to a
very important tomb. After discovering that a corridor packed with debris
lay beyond this blocked entrance, Carter, with remarkable self-control,
refilled the stairway, sent his telegram to Carnarvon, and made prepara-
tions for what he hoped might lie ahead. His restraint and deliberate plan-
ning at this point reveal not only the strength of purpose which would in
the years ahead both sustain him and bring him close to destruction, 5 but
also the caution born of so many disappointments in his excavating
career. He spoke of ‘nearly three weeks of uncertainty’ that followed. In a
sense he may even have masochistically enjoyed the delay. At the very
least he was saved from the need to take immediate action, and could
divert his energies into systematic planning. He was obliged not to rush,
and this imposed discipline formed the pattern of his future work on the
tomb. No move should be made in a precipitate manner. It was a strategy
which confounded those who were eager for results, but it ensured that
the work on the tomb would be carried out in an exemplary manner.

Among his earliest actions was to bring his friend Arthur Callender
from Armant, a practical move which would quickly prove its worth. Lord

4 I am grateful to Mr Robert Keedick for sending me copies of those parts of his father’s

unpublished memoirs concerned with Howard Carter.

5 The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , I, p. 90.

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HOWARD CARTER

Carnarvon was expected to arrive in Alexandria on the 20th, and on the
1 8th Carter travelled to Cairo to meet his patron. Already there was antic-
ipation in the air; his discovery, which so far remained one of promise
only, excited his acquaintances. By some extraordinary expectation people
understood that something was up. Carter began to be welcomed in
circles which might otherwise have treated him with little more than indif-
ference. He figures in a series of entries in the diary of Minnie Burton, 6
the rather snobbish wife of Harry Burton, photographer for the Egyptian
Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum, whose record of the excavation
and contents of the tomb was to form such an important part of the
archive of Carter’s discovery. The Burtons had arrived from Florence,
where their home was, in early November, and were still in Cairo on the
1 8th. Minnie Burton notes for that day, ‘Mr. Carter arrives’; on the 20th,
‘Mr. Carter at our table’ . . . ‘Lord Carnarvon arrived, with Lady Evelyn’;
on the 21st, ‘I to Greek grocer about Mr. Carter’s whisky. He left for
Luxor.’ Her diary for the whole of the period of the excavation, up to the
end of October 1926, has miraculously survived, and while it does not
contain much in the way of archaeological evidence, it provides useful tit-
bits of information on the progress of the work as part of the social life of
the Metropolitan House in the Asasif at Luxor, written by one who was
immensely sensitive to the gradations of British, American and Conti-
nental society. Carter’s potential discovery, and his association with the
Earl of Carnarvon, qualified him at this early stage for preferential treat-
ment. There would be times later when their relations would be less than
cordial; then he could have done his own shopping.

By the time Carnarvon and his daughter had reached Luxor on the
23rd, Callender had everything ready for the reclearance of the stairway.
When this was completed on the afternoon of the following day, seal
impressions with the name of Tutankhamun were revealed — the very
same king who had been Carter’s chosen candidate for discovery. Less
encouraging were the signs of forced entry into the tomb; although the
clear resealing of the entrance showed that there had been no apparent
additional entry since antiquity, a fact reinforced by the existence of the
workmen’s huts of the reign of Ramesses VI which had effectively
protected the stairs since the late second millennium. The removal of the
entrance blocking on the 24th was followed by two days clearing the
descending passageway leading to a second blocked doorway, similar in
form and in its sealing to the first. The rubble and chippings filling the

6 The diary for 1922—6 is in the possession of Mrs Rosalind Berwald.

256

THE ANTECHAMBER

passage showed definite signs of having been burrowed through on at
least two occasions; fragments of wood, pottery, stone vessels, and mud
sealings with a variety of royal names from Tutankhamun back to Tuth-
mosis III, suggested that the excavators were on the verge of discovering
a cache of reburied royal material, possibly not unlike that found by
Theodore Davis in 1907, and identified then as the tomb of Queen Tiye. 7

Now followed the drama of the breaking of the blocked entrance and
the revelation of the contents of the room beyond. The published
description of the moment has become established as a classic in the
modest literature of archaeological discovery: 8

Slowly, desperately slowly it seemed to us as we watched, the remains
of the passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the doorway
were removed until at last we had the whole door clear before us. The
decisive moment had arrived. With trembling hands I made a tiny
breach in the upper left hand corner. Darkness and blank space, as far
as an iron testing-rod could reach, showed that whatever lay beyond
was empty, and not filled like the passage we had just cleared. Candle
tests were applied as a precaution against possible foul gases, and then,
widening the hole a litde, I inserted the candle and peered in, Lord
Carnarvon, Lady Evelyn, and Callender standing anxiously beside me
to hear the verdict. At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping
from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presendy, as
my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within
emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues and gold -
everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment an eternity it must have
seemed to the others standing by - I was struck dumb with amazement,
and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer,
inquired anxiously, ‘Can you see anything?’ it was all I could do to get
out the words, ‘Yes, wonderful things.’ Then widening die hole a little
further, so that we both could see, we inserted an electric torch.

According to Carter’s published narrative, the members of the small
party - Carnarvon, Evelyn Herbert, Callender and himself, together with
a group of his workmen, were alone at this moment, and after making a
visual survey of the contents of the first chamber of the tomb, in so far

7 See T. M. Davis et al. The Tomb of Queen Tiyi (London, 1910); for Carter’s finding
objects stolen from the tomb, see p. 152 above.

8 The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen, I, pp. 95f.

257

HOWARD CARTER

TOMB OF TUTANKHAMUN

258

THE ANTECHAMBER

as they could through the hole cut in the second blocked doorway, the
hole was sealed, the wooden grille at the bottom of the stairs closed, and
they left the place under guard until the next day. It has been asserted
that on that first occasion Carter, needing little encouragement from the
rest, enlarged the hole to allow himself and the three British members of
the group to enter the tomb. After making a leisurely examination of the
extraordinary contents of the Antechamber, and discovering the small
room, called the Annexe, which opened out of the west wall of the Ante-
chamber, they turned their attention to the north wall, which evidently
contained another blocked entrance, plastered and sealed. There was
evidence that this too had been breached in antiquity, and Carter
reopened the ancient hole to allow himself, Carnarvon and Evelyn
Herbert to enter the Burial Chamber; Callender, it was said, was too
stout to make the entrance. Then followed an awe-struck examination of
the Burial Chamber and the so-called Treasury, which contained many of
the items of burial equipment closely connected with the posthumous
spiritual welfare of the king. 9

Much has been made of the supposed irregularity of what Carnarvon
and Carter did in so entering the tomb in advance of any official inspec-
tion, and in surreptitiously penetrating the Burial Chamber. It has further
been alleged that on this occasion a number of small objects were
removed from the tomb in the pockets of the soi-disant clandestine visi-
tors. 10 What is the truth in all these assertions and allegations? A
complete account of what actually happened cannot be compiled from
the existing evidence; but it is certain that there was an undisclosed entry
of the Burial Chamber at least. The charge that the excavators entered
the tomb on the very day when Carter first breached the second blocked
doorway is hard to substantiate. The unpublished account written by
Carnarvon, and now held in the Department of Egyptian Art in the
Metropolitan Museum, does not contain any reference to it. The likeli-
hood that the first entry took place on the 26th is highly uncertain, for it
would have been extremely difficult to disguise a hole big enough for the
four principals to pass through, only Lady Evelyn being of slight build. It
was expected that the Chief Inspector, Rex Engelbach, might be present
when the blocking was demolished and a breach larger than one

9 The episode is related with imaginative detail added by T. Hoving, Tutankhamun. The
Untold Story (New York, 1975), pp. 90ff.

10 E.g. Hoving, ibid., pp. 350ff. The question of the removal of objects from the tomb by
Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon is discussed further, pp. 441, 447 below.

259

HOWARD CARTER

necessary to inspect the first chamber visually from outside would not
have escaped his attention. That his local inspector Ibrahim deputized
for him made little difference in this respect.

There seems no doubt, however, that at some time after the formal
entry into the Antechamber on the 27th the excavators did return to the
tomb, probably at night, enlarged or reopened a robber’s hole in the
blocking between the Antechamber and the Burial Chamber, and spent
some time taking stock of what lay beyond that sealed barrier. The only
acceptable published evidence on the matter can be found in two short
mentions made by Alfred Lucas, the government chemist and authority
on ancient materials and technology, who worked hand-in-glove with
Carter throughout the clearance of the tomb and the subsequent conser-
vation of its contents. 11 Lucas makes it clear that the entry was made and
that the hole was blocked up and sealed by Carter afterwards, the area of
reblocking being covered up with basketry and reeds. Confirmation of
the secret entry is found in a few private sources, one of which is in a
letter written to Carter by Evelyn Herbert on Boxing Day 1922. 12 She talks
of her father’s continuing excitement, ‘and when slightly weary [he] calls
me in to tell him again and again of the “Holy of Holies”, which always
acts like a magnum of champagne!’

Mervyn Herbert also records in his journal that when he drove with his
half-brother, Carnarvon, and Lady Evelyn to the Valley for the official
opening of the Burial Chamber, Evelyn was urged to tell him something: 1 ’

This she did under the strictest promise of secrecy. It is a thing I would
never give away in any case, and it is one which I think ought not to be
known, at any rate, not at the present. Here is the secret. They had
both been into the Second Chamber! After the discovery they had not
been able to resist it - they had made a small hole in the wall (which
they afterwards filled up again) - and climbed through. She described to
me very shordy some of the extraordinary wonders I was soon to see.
It was a most exciting drive, I cannot remember anything like it. The
only others who know anything about it are the workmen, none of
which would ever breathe a word to a soul about it.

1 1 In A.S.A.E. 41 (1942), p. 136; 45 (1947), pp. 133£

12 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files; the full text is given on p. 464
below. Boxing Day, a British public holiday, is the first working day after Christmas
Day, usually 26 December.

13 The Mervyn Herbert Journal is pardy preserved in the library of the Middle East
Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. The incident is recorded on fol. 369f.

260

THE ANTECHAMBER

It is noticeable in this account that Mervyn Herbert does not mention
Carter; but his presence as Carnarvon’s ‘man’ was taken for granted. In
her letter Evelyn Herbert makes his participation quite clear: ‘I can never
thank you sufficiently for allowing me to enter its precincts. It was the
Great Moment of my life.’

Lucas suggested that Carter’s behaviour after the event in sealing up
the entry hole and disguising it with basketwork was ‘most reasonable’,
and prompted by the wish to avoid being ‘pestered constantly by people
wanting to go in’, and this reason seems still to be the best as justification
for action which has been used to castigate Carter for improper behav-
iour. It must be remembered, however, that from an archaeological point
of view, acceptable behaviour in 1922 was very different from what is
expected today. Carnarvon and Carter were old hands in Theban excava-
tion, and the concession for work in the Valley of the Kings, which was
still valid in 1922, had first been signed by Daressy for Lacau on 18 April
1915; its most recent renewal was dated 16 November 1922. The excava-
tors’ Theban experience went back much further than 1915, and Carter,
in particular, was in more senses than one ‘at home’ in the Theban
Necropolis. It is reasonable to assume that the excavators were well
aware of what they should do on the discovery of a tomb, and a refer-
ence to the terms of their permit would have reminded them, first, that
any discovery should be announced to the Chief Inspector of Upper
Egypt (clause 3); second, that they had the right to open any tomb and
be first to enter (clause 4); third, that any intact tomb should with its
objects be surrendered without division (clause 9); and fourth, that in the
case of a tomb already searched, the excavators could expect a share of
the contents, the Antiquities Service reserving for itself ‘all objects of
capital importance’ (clause 10).

In formal respects it is difficult to fault the reported actions of the
excavators. The Chief Inspector, Rex Engelbach, had visited the tomb on
the 24th, and should therefore have known that a monument of some
potential importance had been found. On the 26th he was sent a note
informing him that the second blocking would be removed on the
following day. He was out of Luxor at that time and so was represented
at the entry by his Inspector. It will now seem extraordinary that Engel-
bach had not been sufficiently infected by the expectation of a great
discovery to postpone his trip to Qena, or to ask Carter to delay any
opening until his return. It is a small indication that he was either not as
yet aware of the possibility of a substantial find - the Valley was notorious

261

HOWARD CARTER

for disappointments - or sufficiently confident in Carter’s competence
and integrity as an excavator to behave responsibly and within the terms
of the concession.

Lucas’s justification for Carter’s concealment of the early entry into
the Burial Chamber, the ‘Holy of Holies’, is eminendy sensible. If he had
announced the existence of what was probably an intact royal burial
chamber, it would have been extremely difficult, surely impossible, to
prevent premature inspection by Lacau and other senior officials of the
Antiquities Service, followed by a procession of important people from
the King downwards. Systematic work on the recording and clearance of
the Antechamber would have been continually interrupted, and much
archaeological evidence possibly lost. Nevertheless, even after the Burial
Chamber had finally been revealed to the world, it suited the excavators
to continue to conceal what they had done. They could never have
convinced the authorities or, more especially, the disaffected Press, that
they had not helped themselves to objects from the unrevealed parts of
the tomb. So the matter was kept quiet, although it was certainly known
to more than the intimate circle of the excavators and Arthur Lucas. In
1945 Alan Gardiner wrote to Percy Newberry on matters concerning the
Carter material about to be presented to the Griffith Institute, and in a
postscript added: ‘By the bye, did you see Lucas’s article in Ann. Serv.
where he - to use a bit of slang - “spilt the beans”? I am quite glad it has
been done, though I couldn’t have done it myself!’ 14

Here Gardiner could have been referring obliquely to the entry into
the Burial Chamber, or to the removal of objects from the Burial
Chamber at the time of the ‘secret’ entry (or even later), for Lucas in his
earlier article of 1942 also draws attention to the exquisite and elaborate
double ointment box which Carter published as having been found in
the sarcophagus, but which Lucas claims to have seen in Carter’s house
before the official opening of the Burial Chamber. 1 ’ The question of the
possibly illicit removal of objects from the tomb will require some
further consideration later in this volume. Here it may be remarked, first,
that removal did not necessarily imply theft (the ointment box is in the
Cairo Museum), 16 and second, that the excavators, aware from the outset
that the tomb was not intact, had every reason to expect a share in the

14 G.I. Newberry Corr. 49/10; letter of 21 March 1945.

15 A.SA.E. 41 (1942), p. 137. Minnie Burton described seeing it along with the jewels

from the body of the king in December, 1925, see p. 400 below.

16 Illustrated and noted in N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun (London, 1990), p. 158.

262

THE ANTECHAMBER

contents in due course; a few pieces taken ‘on account’, although highly
improper, and distincdy contrary to good archaeological practice, could
be marginally condoned according to the somewhat laxer attitudes of
early twentieth-century excavators.

It would be very wrong to concentrate attention on the supposed
misdemeanours of the excavators in the early stages of the tomb’s
discovery. Consider rather the steps taken by Carter in organizing the
opening of the tomb and in preparing for the serious campaign of study
and clearance which would follow. From the moment when the excava-
tors realized what they had found, they were overwhelmingly conscious
of the dangers ahead. The Valley of the Kings would become the magnet
to draw unprecedented crowds of official visitors, notable foreigners
including royalty, persistent members of the Press, and ordinary tourists.
Security would be of paramount importance, not only to protect the
tomb’s contents from damage and theft, but also to ensure the progress
of the work, a principal concern for Carter. What followed was quite
exemplary; within a very short time Carter organized matters in Luxor,
with the sterling assistance of Callender, obtained stores necessary to
support an extended campaign of work, and set up, partly by seizing the
good offers of help made by established scholars, and partly by seeking
specialist support in the appropriate quarters, an unparalleled team of
experienced archaeologists. His prescience and energy were well
rewarded, and when times became difficult he was much supported by
the colleagues and institutions he had so assiduously involved in his
work. How rightly did Petrie comment to Newberry, even as early as 17
January 1923: ‘Why people should now rush to Egypt when nothing can
be shown for weeks or months is a piece of “hard” psychology. We can
only say how lucky it is all in the hands of Carter and Lucas.’ 17

On the morning of the 27th the blocking of the entrance to the tomb
was removed and, with electric lights connected up to the main Valley
system, first installed by Carter himself twenty years earlier, he for the
first time, officially at least, stepped into the Antechamber with the
Carnarvons, Callender, and, it may be presumed, the Egyptian Inspector
Ibrahim. With good light they could at last survey the jumbled contents
of the room, the great beds and dismantled chariots, the thrones and
boxes overflowing with objects like the treasure-chests of romance. There
was gold everywhere, mostly in the form of gold-leaf gilding on plastered
wood; there were intricate alabaster vessels, fine pieces of furniture inlaid

17 G.I. Newberry Corr. 37/85.

263

HOWARD CARTER

with ivory, faience, glass and semi-precious stones. Beneath one of the
great couches they could see into a further room, even more closely
packed, where the emptying of boxes by robbers had left a state of utter
confusion; no serious attempt had been made to tidy it up as had
happened in the Antechamber. And then, at the north end of the first
chamber was the further blocked entrance guarded by two life-sized
figures of the king, black painted and gilded, and in front the remarkable
box painted with exquisite miniatures of Tutankhamun in fanciful scenes
of hunting and warfare. According to the published account, tire excava-
tors were sorely tempted to proceed at once to take down the blocking to
what would emerge as the Burial Chamber - perhaps already entered, but if
not, then certainly to be so on the next night. Practical considerations
dictated otherwise, the immediate necessity being to make a ‘complete
scientific record of the outer chamber’. They did, however, note that
there were again traces indicating that the third blocked entrance had
been cut through in antiquity. The evidence for ancient robbery, on prob-
ably at least two occasions, seemed incontrovertible, and although the
opinion has been expressed that there was no break-in as the excavators
had concluded, most scholars would find it difficult to agree . 19

Carter and Carnarvon now had several important decisions to take. In
the first place it was sure that what had already been publicly revealed
in the Antechamber and glimpsed in the adjacent room, now to be called
the Annexe, would create substantial problems of recording, clearance
and conservation; careful planning and help would be needed. Second,
there was the business of making the find properly known to the author-
ities and to the Press of the world, representatives of which were already
showing what Carter would not have regarded as a healthy interest in the
find. Third, there were the problems of security; gold was the most
emotive word to the clever tomb-robbers of the Theban Necropolis, and
every precaution would be required to guard against robbery. Carter, as
excavator, had never been faced with a piece of work of such magnitude
and complexity; but he had from the time of his own responsibility for
work in the Theban area as Chief Inspector, and later in his fallow years,
and later still in the time of his association with the Earl of Carnarvon,
observed, and been marginally involved in, several spectacular finds
containing material similar to, if not quite as grand as, what now waited
his attentions in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Over the years he had

18 The Tomb of Tutankhamen, I, p. 102.

19 See C. N. Reeves, The Valley of the Kings (London, 1990), p. 82, n. 34.

264

THE ANTECHAMBER

developed dextrous skills in handling delicate materials, and he had an
eye to detect the problems that so often lurked beneath the outwardly
satisfactory appearance of an antiquity. He had also learned the virtue of
patience, and developed the attribute of toughness, the second of which
in his case readily showed itself as stubbornness. He had not, unfortu-
nately, learned at the same time the necessity of bending sometimes with
the wind when it blew from an important quarter; he was jealous of his
achievement, too proprietorial ostensibly on behalf of Lord Carnarvon’s
interests (and later, those of the Countess of Carnarvon), but always of
his own. To begin with, however, he made all the right moves, following
no doubt the conclusions reached in discussions with Carnarvon before
he left Luxor for England with his daughter on 4 December.

An official viewing of the tomb was made on 29 November. The
notice was short, and most of those who attended were important
provincial Egyptian officials, but included Lady Allenby, her husband
being unable to leave Cairo at the time. A second viewing was arranged
for the following day when Pierre Lacau, Director-General of the Antiq-
uities Service, attended and also Paul Tottenham, Adviser to the Ministry
of Public Works, the civil servant responsible for Lacau’s Service. Mr
Arthur Merton, representative of The Times, who had arrived in Luxor in
expectation of the find, was allowed to be present. He subsequently, with
much information supplied by Carter, wrote the first dispatch to his
newspaper which was published in the issue of 30 November, thereby
alerting a worldwide readership to the great discovery, and, in a sense,
establishing a pattern of reporting in the public prints which should have
been a boon rather than a serious impediment to Carter. Even more
significantly for the future was the letter written by Lacau to Carnarvon
on 13 December, two weeks after his visit to the tomb: 20

I have made known to the Committee of Egyptology, at its meeting of
6 December inst., the full importance of the wonderful discovery you
have just made in the Valley of the Kings. All my colleagues have been
keenly struck, not only by the extraordinary results that have been
obtained, but also by the means which have led to these same results.
Further, they wished unanimously to associate themselves with their
President [i.e. Lacau himself] in conveying to you their congratulations
and all their thanks.

20 M.M.A. Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files; the original in French.

265

HOWARD CARTER

Your have placed your name on one of the greatest discoveries ever
made not only in Egypt but in all the fields of archaeology.

As for your associate, Mr. H. Carter, who has conducted the work for
so many years, it is for him the finest crowning of his career, and the
most striking reward that an archaeologist has ever had. Such a reward
was truly deserved, for he has given a tine example of system and of
patience, the rarest virtue of an excavator, without doubt. May he be
copied often.

In addition, the Committee has been especially struck and touched by
the conditions of utter unselfishness that have attended the work. Here is
the ideal kind of excavation that needs to be carried out in the future.
You have demonstrated, to the great surprise of many, that, in a higher
scientific interest, it is possible to agree to unselfish conditions for exca-
vation. Further, Egypt and our discipline owe you every thanks. That of
Egypt is still only to be seen in newspaper articles which are determined
to be unpleasant both for you and for me. That doesn’t matter. The King
and Council of Ministers know precisely what has happened, and Egyp-
tian opinion, when it understands (it has all the facts before it) will thank
you, I am sure, as is proper.

It is a great pleasure for me to repeat to you in my name and in that of

the Committee, all the thanks and congratulations of the Antiquities

Service.

Any satisfaction that this letter may have given to Lord Carnarvon
may be questioned. His distrust of Lacau was well established, and in
accord with the feelings of many who were concerned with field-work in
Egypt. He could scarcely have forgotten the dismissive way in which
Lacau had refused to consider his application for the El-Amarna conces-
sion. He had not yet received this fulsome letter of congratulation when
he sent Carter his Christmas greetings for 1 922, from on board ship off
Stromboli en route for Marseilles, on 16 December. 21 Among various
comments — the unlikelihood of ‘this year . . . making a little out of N.
York’, the inclusion of a cheque, as it seems (‘I know that you know that
thanks are unnecessary’), and a description of Stromboli (‘an enormous
perpetual rocket going up 1 ) - he writes of Gardiner’s coming out, and
reflects: ‘I must say I hope everything will go off pleasantly, but I fear
that with the present Director that is more than we can hope. By the way,

21 M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

266

THE ANTECHAMBER

the Plum Pudding is I believe addressed to you at the Continental.’ Here
it may be understood that Carnarvon had in mind the uncertainty over
the future division of the finds; there was as yet no hint that the work on
the tomb would be jeopardized by Lacau’s future actions. Lacau, who
was not a Jesuit, or a priest of any other kind, as has sometimes been
stated 22 — as if somehow to excuse any devious business on his part - had
never interfered with the conduct of Carter’s work on the ground, except
in marginal matters. Partage was another matter altogether.

Carnarvon was on his way home with his daughter to a reception of
unexpected proportions, to an audience with King George V and Queen
Mary (‘both very interested’), to discussions of major significance for the
work in Egypt, with Alan Gardiner and Albert Lythgoe of the Metropol-
itan Museum and with The Times. 2 '’ In the meanwhile Carter had much to
do. The tomb entrance was closed with heavy timbers, and the stairs
once again filled in. On 6 December he travelled up to Cairo with a long
shopping list, at the top of which was the steel gate for the tomb prom-
ised for six days ahead. There were also the essential supplies for the care
and conservation and eventual packing of the tomb’s contents, some
photographic equipment (Carnarvon having promised to send out a
supply of glass plates by way of Gardiner), and a motor-car. The last, a
Ford, would be quite a novelty for an archaeological expedition in Egypt,
where boats, donkeys and railway trains were still the most common
means of transport, with camels representing heavy haulage over short
distances.

Not the least impressive part of his planning for future work was
Carter’s assembling of a remarkable group of helpers; for it had been
apparent to him from the moment he entered the tomb that he was faced
with problems of such enormity that he could not hope to deal satisfac-
torily with everything himself, assisted only by the practical but archaeo-
logically inexperienced Callender. Luck and opportunity helped him, but
one should not underestimate, on the one hand, his own standing with
colleagues which allowed them to find it proper to join the Carnarvon-
Carter team, and on the other hand, the readiness among such
colleagues, and indeed many other scholars and eager amateurs, to be
associated with the work on this most remarkable discovery. Carter was
well placed in Cairo to talk to some likely helpers, among whom two in

22 Hoving, Tutankhamun. The Untold Story ; p. 64.

23 All reported in a letter to Howard Carter, dated 24 December, in Department

of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

267

HOWARD CARTER

particular were to be his first recruits and the longest serving associates,
Alfred Lucas and Harry Burton. The former, who had first come to
Egypt for health reasons in 1897, was a government chemist in the
Survey Department and Assay Office, and, as Carter notes, about to
retire. He was 55 years old, and he offered to do what he could as a
chemist to help Carter with conservation, and with the scientific exami-
nation of the tomb’s contents. He had already shown a deep interest in
the scientific and technological sides of archaeology, and the small
volume he published in 1 926, Ancient Egyptian Materials , represented a
first distillation of his extensive researches. From 1923 until 1932 he was
advisory chemist to the Antiquities Service, and remained in technical
matters Carter’s right-hand man throughout the thrilling and painful
years of the tomb’s clearance. Ultimately his little book of 1926 devel-
oped into a work of magisterial authority and remains, as Ancient Egyptian
Materials and Industries , one of the most reliable reference works in the
small library of archaeological scientific classics. 24

Although Carter was no mean photographer, he never thought of
himself as anything but a good jobbing shooter of better-class snaps.
Harry Burton, however, was a man of archaeological experience who had
been employed almost exclusively as a photographer by the Egyptian
Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum; he possessed all the skills that
Carter would need. Carter was on good terms with Burton and, for the
moment, his wife, Minnie; they were both still in Cairo when Carter came
up from Luxor on 6 December. Minnie was thrilled to be on more than
nodding acquaintance with the discoverer of the new tomb. On 5
December she records, ‘Talk with Ld. Carnarvon about wonderful find’;
on the 8th, ‘Mr. Carter lunched at our table’. If there were to be any doubt
in Burton’s mind about helping Carter, Minnie surely would have weighed
the scales in favour of acceptance. But the matter was probably already
settled. Carter had provisionally agreed with Carnarvon on the necessity
to enlarge the expedition’s staff, and took the opportunity of a cable from
Lythgoe to press the case for co-operation. Lythgoe, in London on affairs
of the Metropolitan Museum Expedition, wired Carter, congratulating
him on his success. Carter then sent a reply, thanking Lythgoe and asking,
‘Could you consider loan of Burton.’ Lythgoe’s immediate answer was
perhaps even more encouraging than Carter had expected: ‘Only too
delighted to assist in every possible way. Please call on Burton and any

24 The fourth edition, edited and supplemented by J. R. Harris, appeared in 1962. Lucas
died in 1945.

268

THE ANTECHAMBER

other members of our staff.’ This cable had arrived before the Carnarvons
had left Egypt, and Lydigoe reported in a letter he wrote to Edward
Robinson, Director of the Metropolitan Museum on 20 December, that
Lady Evelyn Herbert described to him how her father with Carter had
brought die cable to her hotel room as soon as it reached Cairo, and how
they were ‘deeply touched and greatly relieved’. 23

Lythgoe displayed great energy in prosecuting the policy of help. There
was undoubtedly a substantial awareness of the Museum’s interests
behind what he proposed, but his scientific principles were very strong,
and were pursued with equivalent disinterestedness. In talks with
Carnarvon in London he pressed the necessity of involving Arthur Mace
in the work. Mace, a cousin of Flinders Petrie and an excavator of twenty-
five years standing, had been on the staff of the Metropolitan Museum
since 1906. He had achieved a reputation as a careful field-worker and
remarkable conservator of fragile and intricate antiquities; he seemed not
only ideal for Carter, but even essential. In the same letter to Robinson,
Lythgoe reported that he had been able to ‘discuss thoroughly with Mace
our best lines of procedure before he started out [i.e. for Egypt]’; and
further, that Carnarvon ‘realizes now that Mace is the key to the whole
situation and that he is without a rival in the patience and painstaking skill
necessary in such an emergency as the present one. It is a case of
Senebtisi multiplied to the Nth degree!’ 26 Lythgoe did not overstate
Mace’s capabilities, but even he could not have realized the part Mace was
to play in the first two years of the Tutankhamun campaign, as archaeolo-
gist, conservator, maintainer of morale, keeper of the peace, unwavering
supporter, and literary mastermind behind the written output of the offi-
cial team. And how impressive this team now looked! Carter and
Callender, Lucas and Burton, and Mace; and also two others who were
additionally loaned to Carter for a few weeks to prepare a detailed plan of
the Antechamber, with everything plotted in place. These two were
Walter Hauser and Lindsley Hall, both employed as architectural
draughtsmen by the Metropolitan Egyptian Expedition, the former
strong-headed and excitable, the latter fussy and hypochondriac. And in
addition Alan Gardiner would keep an eye on the inscriptional material.

25 Cables mentioned in Lythgoe’s letter to Edward Robinson of 20 December 1922, in

Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files; see also The Tomb ofTut.ankh.A.men ,
I, pp. 107f.

26 Mace had in recent years performed a remarkable piece of restoration on material
from the tomb of the princess Senebtisi at Lisht. For bibliography, see Texikon der
Agyptologie , 5, col. 848.

269

HOWARD CARTER

Lythgoe’s letter to Robinson of 20 December, and another dated 23
December, make it clear that he hoped that advantages other than kudos
would accrue to his museum. Carnarvon seemed to be sure that Lacau
would ‘deal generously with him in giving him a selection of objects’.
Lythgoe very honesdy commented:

Stricdy in the family circle, I think you can see what I am hoping for in
all this - aside from what I know would be the Museum’s desire in
extending every assistance to Carnarvon in this tremendous emer-
gency. He is certain, in return for all we are doing, to give us some of
the things he receives, nor could he be in any way criticised by people
here for doing so, for our part in the matter has been publicly recog-
nized in the press.

Changes already planned by Lythgoe for the new season included the
suspension of work at Lisht and the moving of Mace to Thebes to work
with Winlock on the Eleventh-Dynasty tombs. As it now transpired, it
was possible to divert Mace to Carter without seriously interfering with
the Museum’s Theban operations. 2 Further, Lythgoe pointed out that
anything the Museum might get as a return from Tutankhamun would
gready outweigh what might come from more Eleventh-Dynasty tombs.
Lythgoe continued:

I am confident that you and the Trustees will agree with me, and for
that reason I know you would be glad to confirm our action by cable
to Carnarvon, as I asked this morning, and I know how much
Carnarvon will appreciate such a direct message from you.

On 23 December Lythgoe reported to Robinson a further meeting
with Carnarvon. Both had received cables from Carter, Lythgoe’s
informing him of the success of Burton’s first photographs, and
Carnarvon’s containing ‘splendid news’ about assurances on divisions.
Lythgoe then says: 28

27 The Metropolitan Museum excavated mainly at Lisht and Thebes between 1906 and
1936. Yearly reports were published in the Museum’s bulletin, and the Theban reports
were collected in H. E. Winlock, Excavations at Deir el Bahri 1 91 1—1 931 (New York,
1942). The work at both sites is being published fully in continuing series.

28 Letter in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

270

THE ANTECHAMBER

Carnarvon then asked me to tell no one of what he was going to say — ‘not
even Carter when you see him’ — and then said ‘I’m going to give you a
part of the things which I receive’. He then continued: ‘Of course, I
shall have to give something to the British Museum, 29 but I intend to see
that the Metropolitan is well taken care of 1’ He was simply splendid , and
you can imagine that I met him more than half-way in the assurances I
gave him as to the gratitude of the Museum for all he was doing.

Lythgoe then advises Robinson to keep this news very confidential; he
would suggest when he might properly let Carnarvon know that he was
aware of his intentions. He had further discussed with Carnarvon other
possible participants in the work, and in particular had talked of Elliot
Smith, an anatomist and physical anthropologist, of Australian origin,
who had made a corner for himself in the examination of Egyptian
mummies, especially royal mummies. He was, they felt, ‘the only one who
should have responsibility of the evidence on that side’, if mummies were
found. This agreement, unfortunately made known to Smith, was later to
cause some embarrassment to Carter who had his own, and different,
preferences in the matter. 30

In considering the possible future acquisition of objects from the
tomb of Tutankhamun by the Metropolitan Museum, and the British
Museum, it should be borne in mind that museums are in the business of
building up and maintaining specialized collections, and the acquisition
of pieces through co-operation, even partnership, is a well established,
continuing and proper practice. Even today, many museums participate
in the fieldwork of excavating institutions like the Egypt Exploration
Society, pardy for scientific reasons, and partly in the expectation of
acquiring antiquities when divisions are made with the Egyptian Antiqui-
ties Organization, the modern successor of the Antiquities Service.
Albert Lythgoe was understandably thrilled about the advantage the
Metropolitan had achieved through its offer of help. He may have been
worried that the complex of motives might be misread, but he never lost

29 A letter from Carnarvon to Sir Frederick Kenyon, Director of the British Museum, on
29 December 1922, talks of the possibility of a division of objects; but it contains no
specific promise of objects for the Museum. I am grateful to Miss Marjorie Caygill for
tracing this letter in the Kenyon Papers in the B. M. Central Archive.

30 A letter from Dr Douglas Derry to Carter on 12 December 1922 (also in M.M.A.,
Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files) offered his assistance for the examination
of the mummy, if found. For the difficulties with Elliot Smith, see p. 307 below.

271

HOWARD CARTER

sight of the necessity to ensure that Carnarvon and Carter did a worthy
job. He said in the same letter of 23 December to Robinson:

I have impressed on Carnarvon that the eyes of the world (scientific as
well as otherwise) were upon him and that in the case of every other
royal tomb that has ever been found the major part of the evidence
has been wantonly disregarded and lost - but, through the organization
which is now assembled and carrying out the work for him and Carter,
they have got a perfect working-machine and they will be credited with
having taken the fullest advantage of this greatest of opportunities and
with having furnished a record of the evidence on every side, uniquely
complete in every detail.

Howard Carter had in the meanwhile wasted little time in consoli-
dating his team and completing his arrangements for the commence-
ment of serious work in the tomb. By 15 December he was back in
Luxor, the steel gate and other supplies had been delivered, and on the
very next day the tomb was re-excavated. On the 17th the gate was fitted
and later in the day ‘After tea H [Harry] and I to Mr. Carter’s and saw the
King’s cup. Mr Callender there. After dinner Mr. Carter came here.’ So
reported Minnie Burton; and on the next day she records a quid pro quo\
‘Mr. C. sent over curtains for me to sew.’ On the 19th Carter sent his
donkey to convey Mrs. Burton to see the tomb: ‘Wonderful’ — on the
whole her diary comments are economical. She notes that the Breasteds
were there. While he was at Aswan James Henry Breasted had received a
letter from Carnarvon announcing the discovery, and he had just arrived
in Luxor with his family. 31 His recent disagreement with Carter over the
Cleveland sculpture was now, it seems, a thing of the past, and he eagerly
offered to help Carter with the decipherment of the seal impressions on
the entrance blocking - an offer Carter gladly accepted, although he knew
that Carnarvon was arranging for Alan Gardiner to take responsibility
for any inscriptional material found in the tomb. According to Breasted’s
own diary entry for the period (actually written up considerably in retro-
spect on 16 March 1925), 32 he was apparently able to correct several
erroneous conclusions already drawn by Carter from the evidence so far

31 The early days of his involvement with the tomb are described by Breasted in a very
long letter to John D. Rockefeller Jr, dated 29 December 1922, in O.I. Director’s
Office Corr. 1922-3.

32 In O.I. Director’s Office archive.

272

THE ANTECHAMBER

discovered, and had subsequendy been surprised to find his views incor-
porated without acknowledgement in the ‘official’ version of the prob-
able history of the tomb’s robberies, published soon after by Carnarvon
in The Times. Breasted clearly retained misgivings about Carter, but it is
possible that at this point he felt somewhat aggrieved because he had
been wholly forestalled by the Metropolitan men, and had rather missed
the boat. He could not, however, resist the extraordinary find, and did
his best in the following years to exploit the tomb both for his own inter-
ests and for those of his creation and justifiable obsession, the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago. His support for Carter in 1924, as
will be seen, was distincdy two-sided.

For the moment there was massive suppressed excitement in Thebes.
Carter’s staff was assembling, he had started Burton on his photography,
he had secured permission from the Antiquities Service to use the now
empty tomb no. 55 (the so-called tomb of Queen Tiye) as a dark-room
for Burton, and the litde visited tomb of King Sethos II (no. 1 5) as a
conservation work-room and store for antiquities. The latter was several
hundred yards away, but easily protected and quiet; it would become
known as the laboratory. Walter Hauser and Lindsley Hall had been
started on their task of planning the contents of the Antechamber. They
did not begin work quite as early as the published volume states. 33 Hall’s
diary is fairly specific on the matter. For 20 December he notes: 34 ‘This
aft. Walter and I climbed over to the Valley of the Kings to see Carter, as
we are to make drawings for him of the tomb’; on the 21st: We again
visited the Valley and this A.M. saw the tomb, the first chamber filled
with the most remarkable objects.’ He records their first session of plan-
ning on 23 December; We are placing objects on a 1:10 scale plan of the
first chamber’ (28 Dec.). Hall had literary as well as artistic interests, and
was an inveterate amateur photographer; he did not miss his opportu-
nity: ‘I started writing story about Carnarvon-Carter find which I am
going to submit to Mr. Stow’ (30 Dec.). He subsequendy notes the publi-
cation of his story and photographs, but does not specify in what journal
or magazine (entry for 24 March); it was but one among many hundreds
of stories and reports which were to flood the pages of the world’s news-
papers and periodicals in the months to come.

33 The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , I, p. 109, gives 18 December.

34 Hall’s diary records very selectively the events of each day; health entries take prece-
dence over professional activities.

273

HOWARD CARTER

The arrival of Arthur Mace on Christmas Day signalled the start of the
serious work of clearance and conservation. But first a celebration at the
Metropolitan House. Mace’s letters to his wife, Winifred, record this
occasion and chart the progress of his work on the tomb: ’ 5

We had a Christmas dinner here last night - the Davies, Wilkinson,
Carter and Lucas. . . . We had crackers and all wore caps, and Hall’s most
appropriately was a Granny cap with ribbons to tie under the chin.
What the Berbers [the Nubian servants] thought of us I dont know.

The festive atmosphere also extended to the work at the outset, and
Mace’s earliest comments suggest a considerable lack of precision over his
own role and future. Things were being worked out on the ground as they
went along. That is not surprising, for events had moved so fast since the
first indication of the tomb; it was remarkable that so much had been
organized in such a short time. Mace had worked for the Metropolitan
Museum mostly in its excavations at Lisht in Middle Egypt, and was not
therefore as well acquainted with Carter as were the regular members of the
Luxor camp - Lythgoe, Winlock, Burton, Hall, Hauser, with the Davieses
and Charles Wilkinson (the epigraphic wing). He was almost a stranger:

I lunched with Carter today [26th], and am to start on the tomb
tomorrow. It is a simply stupendous thing, so much so that it takes
one’s breath away, and leaves one reeling. Carter was extremely
friendly, and seems to take for granted that I am assigned to the job
for the duration, which might mean two or three seasons in the field to
say nothing of further work on restoration and publication. I find my
name has already been given to the Press as definitely engaged. They
say reporters are thick in the valley, and pop out from behind rocks to
photograph and interview, so I seem to be in for an exciting time.

The first object to be removed from the tomb (not counting the
King’s cup and perhaps a few others which Carter had earlier taken to his
house), was the painted chest which had so impressed him with its

35 The letters were formerly in the possession of Mace’s daughter, Margaret Orr, who
very kindly allowed me to consult and to quote from them. The Mace papers formed
the basis for two exhibitions, both entitled £ . . . the Grand Piano came by Camel’,
organized by Dr Christopher Lee at the Lochwinnoch Community Museum (Nov.
1989 to Feb. 1990), and later in 1990 in the Paisley Museum.

274

THE ANTECHAMBER

remarkable miniature paintings. It contained mosdy children’s clothes, in
a poor and delicate condition; it took Mace three weeks off and on to
clear it. In many ways the boxes presented the greatest problems to the
team in tomb no. 15. All had been ransacked by the robbers and then
carelessly repacked by the officials who had attempted to restore order in
the tomb. Beadwork, of which there were many pieces, was particularly
tricky. Mace’s daily bulletins to his wife are full of comments which can
only inadequately suggest the difficulties he and Lucas faced:

[6 Jan.] Just now we are working on a box which contains garments
and shoes all covered with beadwork. The cloth is so rotten you can
hardly touch it, and the beads drop off the shoes if you look at them.
Moreover resin has run out and glued all the shoes together, so you
can imagine what a job it is.

[6 Feb.] I embarked gaily yesterday on a new box, thinking it was going
to be a very simple matter, but on removing the top cloth, I found all
sorts of wonderful beadwork underneath, which will take me a very
long time to clean and note.

[7 Feb.] The new box is revealing all sorts of unexpected treasures, but
they take an infinity of time to work out, especially with the interrup-
tions we get.

[9 Feb.] I finished clearing my third box today, and it was just like a
Christmas stocking with oddments of all sorts of things, including a
long glass scarab, a perfectly exquisite statuette of the king in dark blue
glass, and another, almost equally beautiful, in limestone. By the way
keep the details absolutely to yourself. I haven’t finished the box yet,
however, by any matter of means, for I’ve got a tapestry woven robe to
try and straighten out, and a wonderful upper garment, made up of
hundreds of feather shaped pendants of glaze and gold. It will be a
nice problem to fit it all together, as I wasn’t able to get the exact
shape from the position in which it lay.

Apart from visitors, there were many interruptions when Mace and
Lucas were summoned to the tomb to carry out emergency treatment
before an object was removed, or to help in the extrication of an
awkwardly placed piece. Again Mace provides the feeling of the work:

275

HOWARD CARTER

[8 Jan.] I spent most of the morning in the tomb melting wax and
treating a footstool covered with beadwork that was in a very bad
condition, and a shoe composed entirely of beads. I think I’ll get them
up all right, but the amount of restoration work ahead of us is
appalling. ... I am lucky to have such a nice chap as Lucas to work
with, as we spend almost all our time together in our tomb workshop.

[22 Jan.] Spent the whole day in the tomb treating the great bed steads
with wax. Then this afternoon we took one of them to pieces, and an
anxious job it was. It had been too big to be taken into the tomb
whole, so had been put together in the tomb itself.

Conditions in the Antechamber were always difficult throughout the two
months it took to clear it. Apart from Carter himself, supervising, and at
times interfering with, the work of his colleagues, there were Burton,
photographing generally and in detail at every stage in the clearance,
Hauser and Hall, desperately trying to plot, plan and draw everything in
situ while objects were being removed from beneath their drawing
boards, and Lucas and Mace periodically turning up with their primus
stove and paraffin wax to carry out first aid. The difficulties are well
described by Carter and Mace in the first volume of the popular publica-
tion. 36 What are not there recorded are the tensions, outbursts of temper
and sulking that inevitably occurred. Hauser was the first to explode.
Hall’s diary noted for 7 February: Walter rowed with Carter and ended
his work with him.’ Hall himself, fussy but less explosive than Hauser,
stayed the course better, but he too found things difficult: [20 Jan.] ‘I
worked in the Valley this A.M. Carter took measurements for me until
his extraordinary notions about projections caused such a violent disa-
greement between us that he refused (fortunately) to continue his
“assistance”.’ Hall continued to work on the drawing after the Ante-
chamber was empty, using notes and photographs; his progress was slow,
and the drawings were not completed, as he records, until 25 April; he
had spent five weeks at Mena House Hotel by the Giza pyramids after a
bout of fever and a stay in hospital in Cairo.

Howard Carter was by nature a solitary worker, and for most of his
career he had been able to conduct his field operations with a minimum
of interference from others, and without having to pay much regard for
external matters. Tutankhamun changed all that, and there must have

36 T he Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen, I, Chapters 7 and 8.

276

THE ANTECHAMBER

been many occasions when he lost patience with his fellow-workers
because their ways of doing things were different from his own. It
needed much understanding on the part of his colleagues to endure the
times of stress and irritability. William C. Hayes, who did not join the
Metropolitan Egyptian Expedition until 1 927, once recalled that Burton,
long-suffering and faithful, stormed into the Metropolitan House,
bitterly complaining, ‘That man Carter is quite impossible!’ and then on
reflection, ‘But I must admit he showed me how to take a photograph I
thought impossible.” It was in the end Carter’s professionalism that
mitigated the trials and tribulations of Iris team. Still, he had heavy
burdens to carry, most especially those of the Press and of distinguished
visitors. With the Press his natural impatience was singularly aggravated
by the intense interest engendered by the discovery, and hopelessly
complicated by the arrangements Lord Carnarvon had negotiated with
The Times.

It could be said that nothing could have been done fully to quench the
thirst of those who had been sent to Egypt to obtain, if possible, exclu-
sive stories from the source, the spring of information, in Western
Thebes. Carter had allowed a first press view of the Antechamber on 22
December. Thereafter, when serious work began, Carter found it almost
impossible to handle the distribution of information. Carnarvon, after
discussion with Carter, had realised that there were extraordinary oppor-
tunities for making money from the discovery, to recoup much of his
expenditure over the years, and he showed an understandable reluctance
to make material available for publication in any form. While he was in
England he was greatly exercised by the difficulty of doing the ‘right
thing’ and at the same time protecting his investment. Alan Gardiner,
who saw much of Carnarvon in the weeks before Christmas, retells how,
one day, while the two lunched together in Carnarvon’s Town house in
Seamore Place, they were interrupted by the arrival of Geoffrey Dawson,
the editor of The Tunes , with a proposal that the newspaper be granted a
monopoly of news on the discovery. 38 An arrangement of the same kind
had been negotiated with the Royal Geographical Society for the
coverage of the Everest Expedition of 1921, and it had worked well and
much to the advantage of the R.G.S. Carnarvon and Gardiner went to
see the Secretary of the R.G.S. who confirmed the success of the
arrangement, and Carnarvon was left to ponder the matter while

37 Reported by Cyril Aldred, to whom the story was told by W. C. Hayes.

38 A. H. Gardiner, My Working Years (privately published, 1963), pp. 37ff.

277

HOWARD CARTER

Gardiner journeyed to Egypt, carrying a long letter from Carnarvon to
Carter in which he outlined what had been happening in recent weeks. 39

In this letter Carnarvon touched on the possibility of the agreement
with The Times. He had seen Sir Harry Perry Robinson, the newspaper’s
chief foreign correspondent, and had explained ‘that I could not give all
news first to Times. He is writing to me about it after thinking it over.’
Then there was the possibility of a contract with Pathe and others for a
film: ‘There is I imagine a good deal of money in this what I don’t know
possibly 10-20 thousand - but there are difficulties.’ He advises Carter to
reserve the best object for himself to paint; the result would be worth a
lot. He writes of possible helpers, professional and amateur, of proce-
dures for dealing with requests for photographs: ‘Neither of us having
much if any experience of Press sharks one is rather at a loss how to act
for the best.’ He already looks forward to publication, in which Gardiner
would help. He returns finally to the problem of a Times monopoly. The
R.G.S. had received £1000 for 15 long cables and there had been,
according to the R.G.S. , much Press grumbling: ‘I think the Daily Mail
would give more, but the Times is after all the first Newspaper in the
world.’

It did not take long for Carnarvon to decide in favour of The Times ,
and an agreement was signed on 9 January 1923. He wrote to inform
Carter on the next day, justifying his decision. 411 Any less tight an arrange-
ment ‘would make the matter too common and commercial.’ Indeed,
some sort of agreement seemed essential both to Carnarvon and Carter,
not only for financial reasons, but also for practical purposes. Sadly it
turned out to be a major blunder, alienating much of the world Press,
and particularly the native Egyptian Press which at the time was sensi-
tively jealous of the Egyptian nature of the find and the fact that it was
being handled in all respects by foreigners. A taste of what might be in
prospect was offered in a letter sent to Carter on 24 January by Engel-
bach, the Chief Inspector: 41

I seem in this play to be between the upper and nether millstones. The
journalists are asking for a definite statement as to whether they are to
be admitted on the date arranged by Lacau and I have not been able to

39 Letter of 24 December in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

40 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files. The text of The Times agreement
is reproduced in Appendix IV.

41 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

278

THE ANTECHAMBER

give a reply beyond general evasion - at which I am becoming tolerably
expert.

I shall be therefore very grateful if you will let me have an early reply
to the official letter as otherwise naturally the pressmen will turn up en
masse on the day appointed.

In the meanwhile I am making a corner in all blunderbusses and
rifles, etc. in the district, in case I have orders to storm the position
and seriously think of asking for some high explosive to demolish that
disgustingly strong door by means of which you have locked up the
treasures of Egypt’s ancestors.

If you see a ray of sunshine in this affair you might let me know, as I
- like the hyaena in the old story, haven’t much to laugh at.

This light-hearted attempt to solve one problem did not apparently go
down well with Carter, and there is some evidence that he, with
Carnarvon’s help and possibly that of others like Gardiner and Breasted,
tried to have Engelbach replaced by Tewfik Boulos. 42 Carter attempted
to regularize a shaky situation by making Arthur Merton, the resident
correspondent of The Times, an official member of his team; but matters
did not improve, and press relations were to remain abysmally low for
the whole season and subsequently.

The arrival of Arthur Weigall, Carter’s former colleague and neighbour
in Thebes, as special correspondent of the Daily Mail, led to a serious
deterioration in general relations with the Press. Weigall may have
expected a modest welcome in the Valley, but he found the opposite to
be the case, and he entered whole-heartedly into the guerilla warfare
practised by foreign reporters in their efforts to obtain ‘copy’ free from
The Times embargo. He felt utterly frustrated, prevented, on what was
once his territory, from doing what he considered to be a legitimate job.
He had been ever ready to offer advice at length; he did not now hesitate
to do so again. He wrote to Carter from the Winter Palace Hotel on 25
January, 43 claiming, probably disingenuously, that he wished:

to keep out of this warfare which is going on and which looks like
becoming a matter big enough seriously to damage British interests in
Egypt. . . .

42 See an undated letter from Carnarvon to Carter in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian
Art, Carter files, of late January 1923. Lacau found great difficulty in the proposal.

43 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

279

HOWARD CARTER

The situation is this. You and Lord Carnarvon made the initial error
when you discovered the tomb of thinking that the old British prestige
in this country is still maintained and that you could do more or less
what you liked, just as we all used to do in the old days. You have
found this tomb, however, at a moment when the least spark may send
the whole magazine sky-high, when the utmost diplomacy is needed,
when Egyptians have to be considered in a way to which you and I are
not accustomed, and when the slightest false step may do the utmost
disservice to our own country. You opened the tomb before you noti-
fied the Government representative, and the natives all say that you
may therefore have had the opportunity of stealing some of the
millions of pounds’ worth of gold of which you talked. (I give this as
an instance of native gossip about you.) They say you have insulted
their country, etc. etc., as you doubtless know. You two are being held
up to execration of the most bitter kind and already before I left
London I was told of the intense feeling which you had both aroused.

Weigall then attacks Carnarvon’s sale of rights to The Times , and
continues:

I do most earnestly beg you to do two things. Firstly, persuade Lord
Carnarvon to declare publicly that he will not profit financially out of
the contract with the ‘Times’, Inis expenses in the cause of science
being so enormous. Next, show your workshop and its contents, as far
as possible, to journalists so that they may tell the public what splendid
work Lord Carnarvon is doing in preserving the objects found. And,
thirdly, persuade him to give to every journalist, and particularly to
native journalists, the bare facts, at least, on the day of the opening of
the inner chamber, and not one day after the ‘Times’, which, from a
newspaper point of view, would be the same as not at all.

He ends with a warning of what damage could be done to British
standing in Egypt.

The group of international journalists which formed a cell of grum-
bling discontent behaved outrageously in bombarding the excavators
with complaints and demands, in canvassing Lacau and the Antiquities
Service to circumvent Carnarvon’s arrangement with The Times , and in
stimulating the Egyptian Press to feelings of outrage. There was certainly
much justification for their attitude and behaviour, and it cannot be

280

THE ANTECHAMBER

denied that a serious miscalculation had been made by Carnarvon. Little
consideration, however, seems to have been given to the unreasonable
nature of what the Press demanded, or to the priorities which deter-
mined the work in and around the tomb. It is not uncommon for people
who are inexperienced in matters archaeological to misinterpret silence
and caution for secrecy and inactivity. It is not in the nature of steady
scientific work that those involved can readily satisfy the daily require-
ments of journalists. Weigall could casually talk of one-day-old news
being no news at all, but he should have known better, and it was he who
especially attracted the displeasure of Carter and his team. He too may
have been largely responsible for the deterioration in relations between
Carter and the World Press, and perhaps even with Lord Carnarvon,
who had made the arrangement with The Times without seriously
consulting Carter, and certainly without proper consideration of what
the effects might be on the work. How easy now it is to see the faults in
the arrangements, and the personal weaknesses of the individuals! No
one could have foreseen what immense interest would be generated by
the find. The comparison with the Everest Expedition provided, as it
turned out, no guide at all to what in fact happened. And yet there had
been a time when the Press seemed to have some comprehension of
Carter’s difficulties. On 19 January the report in the Morning Tost by its
own correspondent, 44 discussing life in Luxor around the discovery,
states:

Let it be recorded that if there is any prize for patience and unfailing
courtesy in the face of overwhelming aggravation it belongs to Mr.
Howard Carter. ... In spite of many approaches by friends and the
famous, throughout it all he is merely politely firm. He has the happy
faculty of being able to say ‘No’ without leaving a trace of ill-feeling.

Such sympathetic understanding did not survive the announcement of
the monopoly agreement and Carnarvon’s return to Luxor in late
January. Arthur Mace notes developments as they were observed from
within the excavators’ camp:

44 This report, on page 8 of the issue, was probably written by the American reporter A.
H. Bradstreet, who principally represented the New York Times. He was to become the
most vociferous of the critics of Carnarvon’s Times agreement, and a serious opponent
of the pro-Carter faction in 1924.

281

HOWARD CARTER

[23 Jan.] The whole newspaper world is agog with our arrangement
with the Times about news service, and all sorts of things are threat-
ened. . . . It’s a funny business on the whole, this. Weigall has arrived,
to represent the Daily Mail, and is going to have rather an uncomfort-
able time, as no one is prepared to be cordial. Carter I know does’nt
intend to let him see anything.

[26 Jan.] Things have got rather lively the last few days owing to Lord
Carnarvon’s agreement with The Times, which is much more drastic,
now we have seen it, than we ever imagined. It has caused a perfect
storm among the other newspapers and made complications of
various sorts. . . . the atmosphere of Luxor is rather nerve-racking at
present. The Winter Palace is a scream. Noone talks of anything but
the tomb, newspaper men swarm, and you dare’nt say a word without
looking around everywhere to see if anyone is listening. . . . However it
is amusing. I can hold my tongue with anyone, and the reporters who
tackled me did’nt get much for their pains. Among them was Weigall if
you please - very fat and oily, and pretending to be a journalist only by
accident so to speak.

Scarcely in second place as a source of aggravation to Carter and his
team was the pressure from those who, from influence, position or social
connection, felt they could qualify for a special visit to the tomb, or to
the laboratory in the tomb of Sethos II, or even to both. The official visi-
tors sent by the Government or Antiquities Service could not be turned
away; those with introductions from the Earl of Carnarvon were equally
well placed for special attention; there were those closely connected with
the Metropolitan Museum who for good reasons were given favourable
treatment. The diaries of Minnie Burton and Lindsley Hall are full of the
names of important Americans, drawn to Luxor by the lure of
Tutankhamun the Mayor of New York (McClellan), Dr Morton Howell,
American Minister to Egypt, Mr and Mrs Everett Macy, wealthy
supporters of the museum. After Carnarvon’s return to Luxor in late
January the pace of social activity increased, and additional strain was put
on Carter, who was in grave doubt over the wisdom of the agreement
with The Times , and possibly also with Carnarvon’s determination to
pursue his claim for a share of the antiquities in the tomb. Again Mace is
a sympathetic observer of the deterioration in relations:

282

THE ANTECHAMBER

[28 Jan., on the eve of Carnarvon’s departure from Cairo], ... I fear
from now on we shan’t have so much quiet in our work tomb. It will
take us all we know to restrain Carnarvon from plunging into things.
Carter talks to him just like a naughty child.

[31 Jan.] Relations were a little strained today between Carnarvon and
Carter, so I hope all will go well.

[2 Feb.] The Carnarvons are rather a nuisance. He potters about all
day, and will talk and ask questions and waste one’s time. Lady
Carnarvon is not coming out. Lady Evelyn is rather an empty-headed
little thing I should think. She and Carter seem very thick.

[3 Feb.] Relations are much less strained now and we all lunch
together.

[7 Feb.] Carter’s nerves are giving out with all the worry, and he’ll have
a breakdown if he isn’t careful, Carnarvon makes all sorts of complica-
tions by doing things without thinking of the consequences. The
Times contract has landed us in all sorts of trouble.

[14 Feb.] This afternoon I had standing around watching me work an
earl, a lady, a sir and two honourables. A beastly nuisance they are too,
and I wish they’d keep away.

Tensions increased as the day approached when, with the Ante-
chamber cleared, they could turn to the removal of the blocking between
the two life-size figures guarding, as Carter and Carnarvon already knew,
the entrance to the Burial Chamber. Remarkable results had been
achieved by Carter and his exceptional team since the entry of the Ante-
chamber on 27 November. After the closing of the tomb on 3 December
to allow for the assembling of staff and materials, there was a break of
two weeks before serious work could begin. And now, just a little less
than two calendar months later, the tangled mass of material in the first
chamber of the tomb had been unravelled and taken to the tomb of
Sethos II. A careful plan of the chamber’s lay-out had been started, and a
comprehensive photographic record completed. In the laboratory tomb,
many of the larger objects had been treated and prepared for transport
to Cairo; many of the boxes had been unpacked and their contents

283

HOWARD CARTER

unpicked and conserved. Much entertainment had been provided to the
patient crowds which thronged the Valley, as plums were removed from
the rich mixture of the tomb’s contents, and carried carefully on open
wooden trays to the Sethos tomb. Much frustration had been inflicted on
the members of the Press, and on those whose positions were substantial
but influence insufficient to obtain them entry to the tomb. But much
information had been published on a regular basis, and it was known by
mid-February that soon the blocking would be breached. What would lie
behind it? The public was full of anticipation; the Press representatives
with anxiety lest they might not be the first with the news; the favoured
great waited for the ‘off’, as if it were to be the 3.30 at Newbury; the
excavators were highly charged. On 1 5 February Mace wrote to his wife:

I hope tomorrow will go off all right, for everybody’s nerves are on
edge, and Carter is on the verge of a nervous breakdown I should say.
Fie and Carnarvon are on edge with each other all the time. I shall be
glad when it’s over. It does seem funny to think that the whole world is
on tip toe of excitement over what we are going to find when we take
down the sealed door tomorrow , 4d and what a number of people in
every country will be talking about it. I think the least excited people
are ourselves, but that’s I expect because there has been such a fuss
and worry about everything that we’re getting a bit tired of it. It is
funny as you say to have a great fuss made all of a sudden over what
one has been doing as a matter of course for twenty years.

Mace wrote in advance of the day of opening, and adopted the accept-
ably casual, even blase, attitude which would at the time have been
thought proper for one of his background and country. His next entry,
written on the 17th, reveals the release of tension:

Yesterday was the great day, and I was so dead with excitement and
fatigue and talk that I hadn’t time to write. I just rolled into bed and
dropped straight off to sleep. It was a day and no mistake. . . .

45 In The Tomb of Tut.ankh.A.men, I, the date of the opening is given as Friday the 17th.
This is a simple error; see p. 186 where the 17th is described as ‘a day set apart for . . .
Egyptologists’. The 16th is confirmed as the opening day by the diary entries of
Minnie Burton and Lindsley Hall, as well as this quoted letter by Mace.

284

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND
DEATH

The excavation and clearance of Tutankhamun’s tomb had developed, in
the season of 1922—3, into a programme of set performances, almost
theatrical in their staging, with previews and ‘first nights’, special perform-
ances and even ‘command’ performances. The viewings of the Ante-
chamber after the initial opening in late November and after the
reopening in late December were but trial runs for the entry into the
Burial Chamber scheduled for 16 February. By now Luxor was crowded,
the Valley of the Kings teemed with tourists, and the journalists, whipped
into a frenzy of competitive enterprise by the demands of their editors
and their disgust at the agreement with The Times, haunted tire environs of
the tomb, the laboratory tomb, Carter’s house, the Metropolitan House,
and the halls and corridors of the Winter Palace Hotel. It was generally
known that once the Antechamber had been cleared, the blocked
entrance between the guardian statues of the king would be breached.
Speculation on what lay beyond was lively and uninformed; but all felt
sure that whatever was there would not prove to be an anticlimax. The
official account of tire opening by Carter and Mace in the first volume of
The Tomb ojTut.ankh.Amen is well known, and much quoted - the select
gathering on 16 February, the preliminary speeches, the removal of the
first blocks by Carter and Mace, the first glimpse of the outermost gilded
shrine with blue faience plaques, the enlargement of the hole, and the
viewing of the Burial Chamber and of the Treasury leading out of it, the
wonder and glory of it all. Arthur Mace wrote another account, less
formal and full of incidental details, a few days after the opening while he
rested in the Cataract Hotel at Aswan. An extract may colourfully supple-
ment what he later wrote for the volume: 1

1 In the Mace Papers.

285

HOWARD CARTER

In the first place, we scored a great triumph over the newspaper men.
They for some reason had got it into their heads that we were going to
make a secret opening without any representative of the Government
being present, so for three or four days they hardly left the tomb. On
the Friday they had no idea anything was up. We fixed it for the after-
noon so that the tourists would be out of the way. Sir William Garstin
and two or three others came to join our lunch party, but they came
straight, so were not seen arriving. After lunch we met by appointment
Lacau, Engelbach, Lythgoe, Winlock and two or three native officials,
and then we all went in a party to the tomb. The correspondents
keeping their vigil above the tomb saw all of a sudden the procession
arrive from nowhere, and of course realized what it meant, but too late
to make any special arrangements for sending messages off . . . The
tomb looked as though set for a stage scene. We had put up boarding
to protect the statues which stood on either side of the sealed
doorway, and made a small stage to enable us to attack the upper part
of the sealing, thinking it was safest to work from the top downwards.
A little way back was a barrier, and behind that chairs for the visitors,
as it was likely to be a long job . . . Carter mounted the stage, stripped
to trousers and vest and struck the first blow with hammer and chisel .

. . At this point he asked me to come up and help him, and the rest of
the clearing we did together. It was an odd sensation standing on the
stage and gradually widening the hole, you could feel the spectators
behind the barrier just tingling with excitement ... I don’t seem to
have shown much excitement myself, for I heard Lacau say to
someone ‘M. Mace est toujours calme’. The order of proceedings was
this. Carter with chisel and crowbar eased the stones loose one by one:
I held them as he did so to prevent their falling in, and then lifted
them out and passed them back to Callender, who passed them on to a
native, and then up a chain of men in the passage to get them clear of
the tomb. It took nearly two hours altogether, and we must have been
sights by the time it was over, dirty, dishevelled and perspiring.

When the hole was large enough Carter entered the Burial Chamber for a
preliminary inspection, and then the assembled guests went in,
Carnarvon and Lacau first, then Lady Evelyn Herbert and Sir William
Garstin, then the others two by two. They could just squeeze between
the wall and the side of the great outer shrine, look through its open
doors at the second, sealed, shrine within; see the alabaster vessels and

286

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

other objects on the floor and the linen pall, ‘spangled with gold stars’,
drooping above. They could see into the further room, and marvel at the
wonderful gilded Canopic shrine with the figures of the four protective
goddesses: ‘For modelling I really think they beat anything I have ever
seen from any country.’ As people came out, ‘It was curious to watch
them . . . With hardly an exception each person “threw up his hands and
gasped”.’ Mervyn Herbert, usually rather dismissive in his comments on
things, was bowled over : 2

It is difficult after five minutes to remember details clearly — all the same
I think I kept a pretty definite picture of what I saw. The jackal at the
entrance the marvellous gold shrine the figures at the sides opposite
the door in between boxes, boats and every sort of thing - I have got
the picture in my mind very well, tho’ I could not draw it - and after
one went out people kept asking, did you see so and so’ No, it was
maddening, somehow one had just missed that detail — However I
suppose this sort of thing happens to everybody.

The party left the tomb after five o’clock. ‘I think we were all fairly
dazed, too dazed to realize what we had found,’ said Mace. Carter took
the Carnarvon party off to his house for tea, and in the evening he dined
at the Metropolitan House. Mace commented:

We were all more or less like crazy people. The excitement had been
too much for us, and I’m sure anyone coming in would have said we
had all been taking too much to drink.

Minnie Burton also remarked, “Very interesting talk.’ She was in her
element with the influx of the great, the powerful, and, especially, the
royalty and the quality. She had a private view of the Burial Chamber on
the following day along with others from the Metropolitan House, and
then on Sunday she was included in the group invited for what was
considered the official opening. Pride of place was taken by Elisabeth,
Queen of the Belgians, who had travelled to Egypt particularly to visit the
tomb. She was accompanied by her son Prince Leopold, and attended on
this occasion by Lord Allenby, the High Commissioner. Her visit was
grandly arranged by the authorities, and attended by considerable cere-
mony. Minnie Burton writes one of her longest entries for the day:

2 Mervyn Herbert Journal, fol. 373f.

287

HOWARD CARTER

Lunch at 11.30. The Macys here. Afterwards I walked to the Valley for
the official opening with Mr. Hauser, Mr. Hall and Mr. Bull. Very hot
with fresh breeze. Long wait for the Allenbys and the Queen of the
Belgians and Prince Leopold. The Macys went after the Allenbys. Cold
buffet up near Seri II. Lady Evelyn received. The Maudseleys,
Thomases, Miss Putnam, Thompsons, Hetheringtons, Drs. Breasted,
Capart, Allan [sic] Gardiner, the Davieses, Mertons etc. Drove home
with the Macys. Everybody dead tired.

It was on this occasion that General Sir John Maxwell, an old friend of
Carnarvon’s, and subsequently President of the Egypt Exploration
Society, ran into difficulties. Mervyn Herbert described how ‘he got
stuck, poor old fellow, and it took four men pushing and pulling to get
him out again, which was eventually done with a noise like a champagne
cork and with injury to what he wrongly described as his chest.’ 3

Three days later Minnie Burton took her special friend the Contessa to
see the tomb. ‘Had a row with Mr. Carter! He was very rude.’ It may be
suspected that she had been over-taxing Carter’s readiness to spend time
with people introduced by someone like her, wife of his most useful
photographer, Harry Burton, whom he would not normally have wished
to offend. The day had its compensations for her later:

Got back in time to change for lunch. The Queen of the Belgians,
Prince Leopold . . . lunched here. Afterwards the Queen and Ctess C.
lay down for an hour and then all went off to die Valley. Mr. Hauser,
Hall, Wilkinson, Bull and Frances [Winlock] lunched on the sunporch
and came in afterwards to be presented.

This rather more informal, but necessarily demanding, visit by the
Queen was the second of four she was to make to the Valley, visits which
became increasingly irksome for Carter and his staff: Mace noted the
occasions:

[21 Feb.] The Queen of the Belgians came and spent a long time going
over everything in our laboratory, She’s embarrassingly keen on every-
thing, proposes to come over again on Sunday to see us open a box.
The prince is rather bored with the proceedings, and glad to get away
for a quiet chat and a cigarette.

3 Ibid., fol. 372.

288

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

[25 Feb.] I dodged the Queen this afternoon. She wanted to see a box
unpacked, and that I simply would not do for anyone.

[9 March] Queen of the Belgians today to see a box opened [persist-
ence clearly paid]. We picked out a very dull one in which no harm
could possibly be done. To tell you the truth we are all getting very
bored with her. This was her fourth visit to us, and she stayed till
twenty past five. Royalties haven’t much consideration for other folk.

Boring it may have been, but Mace and his colleagues were not to know
that the discovery and no doubt their courtesy to the Queen helped
towards the establishment later in 1 923 of the Fondation Egyptologique
Reine Elisabeth. 4 It was the conception of Jean Capart, the distinguished
Belgian Egyptologist, who accompanied the Queen on her Egyptian
travels and who in 1925 became Director of the Musees Royaux du
Cinquantenaire in Brussels. The Fondation with its splendid library,
subsequendy became one of the leading centres of Egyptological
research in Europe, and continues to occupy an important position in
the world-wide organization of Egyptian studies.

By the time of the Queen’s fourth visit the tomb itself had been closed
for the season. It was high time for a break. Since the discovery in
November, Carter had been under constant pressure, a pressure which
had intensified as time went on. The archaeological work alone would
have been more than enough to tax the endurance of any ordinary exca-
vator; but added to that unavoidable responsibility had been the prob-
lems caused by visitors and the Press. Delicate work on fragile objects
requires conditions of calm with extended periods of time uninterrupted
by distractions from outside. To a substantial extent such conditions had
been secured for Lucas and Mace in the tomb of Sethos II, but even
there they were not free from the importunities of well intentioned visi-
tors, eager to obtain that closer look at a treasure than might be possible
in the tomb itself. Carter, on the other hand, bore the brunt of the public
assaults and at the same time had to satisfy the constant requirements of
his patron. Carnarvon was just about helpless; he had no apparent role to
play in the clearing of the Antechamber. He was exposed to the atten-
tions and expectancies of many friends and acquaintances, of important
visitors with introductions, and of others who were prepared to impose
on his good nature. The tomb of Tutankhamun had become in a sense

4 See A. Mekhitarian, in Liber Memorialis 1835—1985 (Brussels, 1985), p. 187ff.

289

HOWARD CARTER

his estate in Egypt, and his duty was to conduct people around it. He and
his daughter were trapped by their social upbringing. Additionally, he was
burdened with the difficulties resulting from his contract with The Times;
he might brush these off on to Carter and Merton, but he could not
wholly escape them himself. Mervyn Herbert writes a characteristically
impatient account of tire atmosphere engendered by the hunt for news: 3

Porch [i.e. Porchester], I think, had a very worrying time at Luxor — not
that he disliked it all; some of it amused him quite a lot — But the jour-
nalists were beyond belief. The prince of swine was of course Weigall -
who is only satisfactory in one way; he looks as complete a cad as he is —
in the hotel where we all stayed there were the 2 groups of journalists,
the sheep and the goats. The principal of the sheep was physically like
one — Sir H. Robinson — who was sent by the Times to do their will and
to help Porch - a good old fellow but not very competent. Weigall and
the rest were unutterable - they spied and lied and calumniated as I
have not seen it done yet . . .

The last I saw of the old fellow was in the hall of the Winter Palace
Hotel talking to Maxwell and Merton, the Times correspondent and
others. I had said goodbye more than once. Maxwell said to me that
Porch ought to go to Assouan, as he needed a rest. I agreed that he
was tired altho’ I don’t think more so than was reasonably to be
expected - poor old fellow.

Arthur Weigall was for many the one who had let down the side. His
position was wretched. He had returned to Luxor unloved and
unwanted. Any credit he might have expected for his work in the past in
the Theban Necropolis was negated by what was seen as desertion to the
ranks of the unprincipled Press. It would not have been impossible for
him to have carried out a perfectly decent campaign of reporting, at
second hand it must be admitted, but possessing so much more specialist
background and archaeological flair than any other journalist. Sadly he
felt rebuffed, and he exacted his revenge on former colleagues (even
friends) by participating in, if not actually initiating, a campaign of hostile
reporting in which scant credit was given to the excavators. It was a sour
sequel to what had been a career of considerable achievement and even

5 Mervyn Herbert Journal, fol. 376f. The familiar Porch (short for Porchester) had
remained the name by which the Earl of Carnarvon had been best known since he had
become Lord Porchester, as the son and heir of his father, the 4th Earl.

290

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

greater promise. The letter he had written to Alan Gardiner in the heady
days of Theban activity 6 expressed his views on the capabilities of his
Egyptological colleagues; he liked Carnarvon, as he had once said to
Griffith, but disdained his intentions and methods; 7 he probably at that
time did not even consider Carter to be more than a competent field-
worker, but with little intellectual capacity. And here Weigall now was, in
Thebes again, with Carnarvon and Carter in the ascendancy. He knew
better than most how chancy archaeological discovery was; he also knew
how chancy was the public success resulting from such discovery. That
Carter was making such a good show of his achievement may have come
as a surprise to him. Nevertheless, the situation Weigall found himself in
was false, and his sharp, inquiring intelligence reacted poorly. He was
obliged to ally himself with the hostile representatives of the newspapers,
with whom he could take some malicious pleasure in discomforting the
excavators.

The dramatic opening of the Burial Chamber, and the many visits
which followed, provided a suitable climax to the 1922-3 season. It also
offered an excellent moment to stop the work in the tomb itself. The
strains of life in the field have been mentioned earlier. Even in good
conditions, with a comfortable base and with successful work, the
tensions develop after a couple of months of daily field intercourse.
Normally in the past Carter had dug from January to March, following
up with time spent closing down, arranging the consequences of the
season, visiting dealers, etc. This year had been very different. He had
started early to escape the crowds of tourists in the Valley of the Kings;
he had found success immediately, and had been in the field, with only
short breaks for essential visits to Cairo, for almost four months. There
remained much to do, but everyone was ready for a break. Mace caught
the spirit well, writing on 22 February to his wife. It happened to be his
daughter Margaret’s birthday:

Things are impossible in the Valley these days. It is one constant
stream of visitors from morning to night. We have come to the
conclusion the only thing to do is to till up the tomb, lock up our labo-
ratory, and simply all run away for three or four days. That will make a
break, and then perhaps we shall be able to start fresh. So next week I

6 See p. 1 80 above.

7 Seep. 161 above.

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HOWARD CARTER

may get in my long talked of visit to Assouan after all. Its quite time
Carter got away; he’s a nervous wreck.

The tomb was shut and filled in on 26 February and the laboratory
closed up the next day. On the 28th Arthur Mace went off to Aswan as
Carnarvon’s guest. He had hoped that others might have joined the
holiday party, but there were different priorities: 8

Lucas has gone off to Cairo tonight, and Callender is going to Armant
to see how his farm is getting on. Carter is going to shut himself into
his house and get rest and quiet that way.

It was wise that they all went their different ways. Mace in advance of his
holiday felt slighdy trapped at the thought of being ‘tete-a-tete with
Carnarvon’ for several days. In the event he greatly enjoyed the break,
and was not too dominated by Carnarvon, who had his daughter and Sir
Charles Cust, an equerry of King George V and an old friend, with him.
They sailed on the river, visited the tombs at Qubbet el-Hawa, the unfin-
ished obelisk, and the Aswan Dam. Mace had an opportunity of
assessing Carnarvon away from the bustle of Luxor: ‘a queer fish, but in
spite of his oddities very lovable. He and Lady Evelyn are devoted to
each other. She is somewhat spoilt and a bit slangy, but there is a lot of
good stuff in her.’ 9

Mace, whose health was at this time always uncertain, told his wife,
Winifred, after he returned to Luxor: ‘They all say I look ever so much
better for my holiday, and I certainly feel so.’ One may hope that
Carnarvon also came back refreshed to continue the trials over the tomb.
Much had been made of the difficulties which occurred in his relations
with Carter, and there is no doubt that the problems of the season upset
their close and good friendship, and tested their loyalties to breaking
point. Charles Breasted, who had been in Luxor for the opening of the
Burial Chamber with Iris father, James Henry Breasted, retells in his biog-
raphy of his father 1 " how the strain between Carnarvon and Carter devel-
oped to such an extent that ‘bitter words were exchanged, and in anger
Carter requested his old friend to leave his house and never to enter it
again.’ He supports his account by quoting, as it is presented, what his

8 Letter to his wife, dated 27 February.

9 Letter to his wife of 4 March.

IOC. Breasted, Pioneer of the Past (London, 1948), p. 347.

292

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

father had written on 12 March. The letter of that date, from James
Breasted to Charles, which presumably was his source, is not so explicit.
James Breasted wrote: 11

While I was there after the opening, Carter asked me to his house
where we had a long talk. He then formally asked me to do the histor-
ical work on the tomb for the final publication, promising to write me
a letter covering the arrangement in a few days. It would take far too
long to try to tell you of the painful situation which then developed,
resulting in such strained relations between Carter and Carnarvon that
a complete break seemed inevitable. Gardiner and I however,
succeeded in pouring oil on the waters, but we both fell from Carter’s
good grace. He is not by any means wholly or even in a great degree to
blame. The man has made a marvellous discovery and then been
obliged to carry on the most difficult archaeological work and run a
ceaseless social function at the same time, and it has broken him
down.

There is nothing in this letter about the row which led to Carter’s
denying his house to Carnarvon and, indeed, there are many verbal
differences between the original text and the parts quoted by Charles
Breasted. There is no hint of such a serious row in the daily reports
written by Arthur Mace, or in the gossipy diaries of Minnie Burton and
Lindsley Hall. Carnarvon had, however, written Carter a mollifying letter
dated only ‘Friday evening’, but probably to be fixed as 23 February, that
is one week after the opening of the Burial Chamber: 12

I have been feeling very unhappy today, and I did not know what to
think or do, and then I saw Eve and she told me everything. I have no
doubt that I have done many foolish things and I am very sorry. I
suppose the fuss and worry have affected me but there is only one
thing I want to say to you which I hope you will always remember -
whatever your feelings are or will be for me in the future my affection
for you will never change.

I’m a man with few friends and whatever happens nothing will ever
alter my feelings for you. There is always so much noise and lack of
quiet and privacy in the Valley that I felt I should never see you alone

11 The letter is filed in O.I. Archives, Breasted Papers, Source Materials 1921—4.

12 Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

293

HOWARD CARTER

altho’ I should like to very much and have a good talk because of that
I could not rest until I had written you.

Here is no letter written by someone who felt that he had a genuine
grievance against the man who was essentially his employee. It is
magnanimous in tone, and at the same time somewhat shame-faced. The
mention of Evelyn has suggested to some that the cause of the differ-
ence was a supposed ‘affair’ between her and Carter. 13 For such there is
no real evidence, even if Mace had thought the two to be ‘very thick’.
Lady Evelyn had known Carter, presumably, since his first association
with her father. There had been regular visits to Highclere over the years.
Apart from her father, Carter was her principal point of contact in
Luxor, and she would have naturally turned to him when she had
nothing better to do. Their relationship was surely as close as one would
expect between old friends, but not therefore necessarily to be taken as
intimate. A clue to the matter of Lady Evelyn’s being mentioned in
Carnarvon’s letter may be found in a note of Evelyn herself written to
Carter on the 22nd, probably the day before. It confirms the close rela-
tionship between her and Carter, although its affectionate tone should
not be mistaken for more than the natural effusion of a young lady, a ‘bit
slangy’ in Mace’s words, concerned for the health of her father’s close

associate:

I am so terribly sorry to hear that you have been taken seedy with your
tummy out of order. I wish I had been with you to look after you dear —
for you know how I fancy myself at nursing!

Anyhow I am popping over tomorrow just to have a glimpse of you
and shall come very early so as to avoid all the ‘ducks’ and shall call at
your house lest you shouldn’t have already gone up.

Poor Marcelle [her maid] has been very seedy but I pray the worst is
over now,

Bless you dearest Howard

Eve

It may be presumed that she called on Carter on the 23rd and subse-
quently spoke to her father about Carter’s sickness - a case probably of

13 T. Hoving, Tutankhamun. The Untold Story (New York, 1978), p. 222.

14 Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

294

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

‘Gippy tummy’ - and of his problems which had made difficulties
between him and Carnarvon. There was quite enough in Luxor in 1923
to upset the mutual regard which had for so long existed between
Carnarvon and Carter. In response to Eve’s intervention Carnarvon
wrote his generous letter. There is no surviving answer from Carter, and
indeed, being a man of such uncertain temper and generally unforgiving
nature, he may not have felt it possible to answer equally generously at
this time. It is not surprising that he did not choose to take his holiday in
Aswan with Mace and Carnarvon, but preferred to shut himself up at
home to lick his wounds and contemplate the future.

After the holiday, Carter’s plan agreed with Carnarvon was to continue
work on the objects from the Antechamber which were in the store-
room and in the laboratory. The tomb of Sethos II was the power-house
of the excavation, the place about which, after a good day, Mace could
write, 15 ‘for the first time for weeks we had a clear day without any visi-
tors, so I got through a nice lot of work.’ Here the objects were brought
after they had been numbered, photographed, and initial record cards
written. The numbering was quite a problem because of the packed
boxes and other groups of objects which could not easily be disentangled
before removal. The system devised by Carter seems complicated, and
indeed is confusing for those who do not try to understand the reasons
behind the use of figures and letters. 6 It has nevertheless proved invalu-
able as a scheme of identification and reference, and it demonstrates in
one more way Carter’s remarkable organizational ability. The practical
documentation of the tomb and its contents represents a triumph of
archaeological percipience and, ultimately, of dedication. The records, in
various categories of detail and emphasis - purely Egyptological,
epigraphic, physical, scientific, technical, artistic - remain a massive
compilation of information ready for mining by interested scholars, and
waiting to be used for serious publication. The record cards and associ-
ated papers contain innumerable sketches by Carter illustrating details
and elucidating points of construction and arrangement. There are
Mace’s notes on his delicate conservation work, the painstaking results of
Lucas’s scientific work on material and technical matters. The initial
considerations and comments of an excavator and his team are always
valuable; things are seen in the course of excavation which, if not noted

15 Letter to his wife dated 7 March.

16 Conveniently explained in N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun (London, 1990), pp.

60f.

295

HOWARD CARTER

at the time, are lost for ever. One of the greatest merits of the
Tutankhamun documentation is its immediacy.

Most of the noting and commenting took place in the tomb itself and
in the laboratory, and it was in the laboratory that Carter hoped that
much of the groundwork of cleaning, conservation and preparation for
scientific publication would take place in the weeks after the closing of
the tomb. And there also the objects, after going through the various
stages of study, were to be packed ready for transport to Cairo and the
Egyptian Museum. At this point there had been no serious consideration
of any ultimate division of the material between the Museum and
Carnarvon. It is almost certainly the case that Carter himself favoured
the retention of everything, apart from clear duplicates, by the Museum,
but his opinion could not take precedence over that of the Earl of
Carnarvon. Whatever were to happen, however, there would be no
escaping the sending of everything that was ready for dispatch to Cairo.

For the moment Carnarvon and his daughter remained in Luxor. Lady
Evelyn was much taken up with the health of her maid who had been
operated on suddenly for appendicitis a day or two after the opening of
the Burial Chamber. 1 When Marcelle was fit to travel on about 11
March, Evelyn took her down to Cairo and shipped her off to England,
she herself staying in Cairo to wait for her father. He continued to haunt
the activities of tire team. On 8 March Mace commented: ‘Carnarvon and
Bethell kind of moon around, so I gave the latter a job today, arranging
the pendants of a collar, which will keep him out of mischief for a long
time.’ The Hon. Richard Bethell, son of the 3rd Baron Westbury, was
actively interested in Egyptology, had a collection of antiquities, and was
at the time a member of the committee of the Egypt Exploration Society.
It may be remembered that he was involved with Carter and Newberry
in the fiasco over the sale of the MacGregor collection in 1921. 18 He had
offered his services to the Earl of Carnarvon and had joined him in early
February, ostensibly to act as his secretary. At this point he was princi-
pally a useful companion, a kind of aide-de-camp for the Tutankhamun
campaign.

Very shortly Richard Bethell would find himself sadly in a position
from which his support for Carnarvon, and even more for Lady Evelyn
Herbert, would be crucial. On 14 March he and Carnarvon left Luxor for
Cairo, with a first intention of taking up with Lacau matters concerning

17 Reported by Mace in his letters of 20 February and 10 March.

1 8 See p. 242 above.

296

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

future work on the tomb and the question of division. Those left at
Luxor were rather relieved. Not only was a cause of irritation removed
but also, as Mace explained to his wife, ‘we have the use of the car again
- rather a good thing now it is getting warmer, as the road to the valley is
a regular sun trap.’ Events moved forward with the slow inevitability of a
Greek tragedy, to be viewed from the distance of nearly seventy years as
forming a proper and inexorable denouement to a season of high drama
and sour comedy. Alan Gardiner spoke of the sad beginnings of
Carnarvon’s illness: 20

He might, perhaps have recovered from the mosquito bite which he
got in Luxor if he had taken better care of himself. Disregarding the
doctor’s advice he came down to Cairo and invited me to dine with
him at the Mohammed Ali Club. He expressed himself very tired and
despondent but insisted on going to a film. There he said that his face
was hurting him and I begged him to go back to his hotel, the Conti-
nental. But no, he would see the film to a finish and he was never out
of doors again.

The first inkling of the seriousness of his condition reached Luxor in a
letter written by Lady Evelyn Herbert to Carter on 18 March: 21

Pups asked me to write you to say that Lacau is laid up with influenza
so is hors de combat and what is much more important is the old Man
is very very seedy himself and incapable of doing anything. You know
that mosquito bite on his cheek dtat was worrying him at Luxor, well
yesterday quite suddenly all the glands in his neck started swelling and
last night he had a high temperature and still has today. He feels just too
rotten for words. I have got Fletcher Barrett looking after him and I
think he is very competent, but oh! the worry of it all and I just can’t
bear seeing him really seedy. However there it is. I’ve made a point of
making rather light of it to most people as I don’t want an exaggerated
account in the papers. Of course they may never get hold of it at all
but since you’ve all become celebrities I feel there is nothing one does
or think that they don’t know! But I like you knowing exacdy what’s

19 Letter to his wife of 15 March.

20 A. H. Gardiner, Mj Working Years (privately published, 1963), p. 40.

21 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

297

HOWARD CARTER

happening to us. We miss you and I wish Dear you were here.

I will let you know how he goes on

with our fond love
Eve

Even before he could have received this letter Evelyn sent a telegram
(on the 19th) saying that her father was very ill, that she was seriously
alarmed, and had wired for Lady Carnarvon. Mace noted in his daily
bulletin:

Carter is going down to Cairo tomorrow to be of any assistance he
can. I hope it’s not really serious for I like the man. Moreover, it would
make rather a serious complication in our work. It’s a nuisance Carter
having to go too, for we were really getting ahead with the work with
four of us plugging at it.

It is interesting to note how everyone close to Carnarvon felt it neces-
sary to keep Carter informed, which reinforces the idea that relations
between him and Carnarvon were not as critical as has sometimes been
claimed. Richard Bethell wrote to him also on the 19th from Shepheard’s
Hotel with the bad news, and adding, 22 ‘My wife and I are moving to the
Continental to be near Eve and if he does not get better we will cancel
our passage for she must have someone to look after her.’ Albert
Lythgoe similarly wrote on 20 March, the very day when Carter left
Luxor for Cairo. The course of Carnarvon’s illness — which progressed
from blood poisoning to pneumonia - did, as Lady Evelyn feared,
become known, and daily bulletins were reported in the newspapers.
There were times when it looked as if he might pull through, but his
constitution had no recuperative reserves. Alan Gardiner, who was still in
Cairo working on Middle-Kingdom Coffin Texts in the Cairo Museum,
saw much of Carnarvon during the days of trial and false hope. On 1
April he wrote to his wife: 25

22 Bethell’s letter in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files, is dated ‘Monday’
only. Hoving in Tutankhamun. The Untold Story, p. 224, erroneously makes this the 26th,
but by that date Carter had already been in Cairo nearly a week.

23 Quoted by Margaret Gardiner in her A. S catter of Memories (London, 1988), pp. 107f.

298

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

I saw him on Tuesday for five minutes, and on Wednesday came his
relapse. I have just come back from seeing Evelyn; it has been a bad
day and he had a terrible crisis just before six o’clock this evening, I
was quite miserable about it . . . why am I so fond of him? And that
poor little girl nearly breaks my heart with her devotion. There she sits,
day and night, tired out and waits ready to run to him. And in just an
agony of apprehension and anxiety. The crisis must come in a short
time now. ... He wanted to see me last night, but of course they
wouldn’t let me. I do so want him to pull through.

Death came in the early hours of 5 April. Carter had been in Cairo
throughout the time of crisis. He had hoped to have been able to return
to Luxor after Lady Carnarvon’s arrival on 26 March, but Carnarvon’s
variable condition and Lady Carnarvon’s distracted behaviour had
obliged him to stay to the end, and even until after the body left Cairo on
14 April for burial at Highclere. In the meanwhile he spent some of Inis
time visiting Lindsley Hall at the Mena House Hotel where he was
completing the drawing of the Antechamber on which he and Walter
Hauser had worked in January. 24 Carter also pursued his occasional
activity as antiquities agent, noting in Iris diary on 31 March that he
received ; £E200 in commission for the sale of two papyri to the Metro-
politan Museum. 25 No expression of what he felt on the death of his
patron has survived. When he returned to Luxor on 1 6 April Mace noted
that he was ‘looking rather tired and washed out. He must have had an
awful time.’ For him the return to work was the tonic he needed. He was
astonished at how much had been accomplished since he left; but he had
been away for almost four weeks.

Howard Carter’s partnership with the Earl of Carnarvon - for so their
relationship by the end could be described - had lasted for fourteen years.
It had developed from a beginning of employer-employee nature,
through the more relaxed stage of patron-client, in which mutual respect
sustained the connection, to one of true friendship. Carnarvon himself
had declared that he had few friends, and the same was certainly the case
with Carter. It would be a mistake to pretend that this friendship had not
been put under truly testing strains during the preceding months, but the
indications seem to have been that both had come to appreciate their
mutual dependence, and that the lessons of the many differences that

24 The meetings are recorded in Hall’s diary on 23 and 31 March, 3, 6 and 10 April.

25 This diary is in G.I. Carter archive.

299

HOWARD CARTER

had arisen in the hot-house conditions of the Valley of the Kings had
been learned. Carnarvon’s death removed the most stable prop of the
few that supported Carter in the greatest triumph and most serious crisis
of his life. His personal loss would be especially felt in the coming year.
For the moment he must have thought that all the burdens of the expedi-
tion and its related activities now rested firmly and solely on his shoul-
ders.

It would emerge that he was not truly on his own. In principle Lord
Carnarvon’s widow, Almina, would assume responsibility for the work in
Egypt, and she had strong and knowledgeable support from Sir John
Maxwell, one of Carnarvon’s executors. But Carter would no longer
enjoy the close association with one who was not only employer but real
partner in interests, one who was prepared to engage in the daily prob-
lems of excavation (often, it must be admitted, to Carter’s chagrin), who
enjoyed the hunt after and acquisition of beautiful antiquities, one of the
few with whom he felt at ease. In practical terms Carter would lose the
material advantages of close association with an old-fashioned British
grandee, the entree to a level of society which he had come to enjoy, even
to accept as his favoured milieu. As it happened, the fame he had now
acquired from the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb would make even
more doors open for him. But most of the new relationships would be
occasional and without meaning. The extended visits to Highclere Castle,
where for a time he would still be needed, would never again be of the
same quality. Mace and Gardiner had both used the word ‘lovable’ about
Carnarvon; and others who knew him on more than a casual basis found
great attraction beneath the grand manner. It can only be supposed that
Carter must have felt even more strongly attached to his old patron and
friend; his personal loss was almost beyond measure.

For the weeks following his return to Thebes Carter was fully occu-
pied with the concluding work of the season, the completion of conser-
vation on objects to be sent to Cairo, the preparation for closing down,
the arrangements for security — all activities which came naturally to him;
they represented the common end-of-season archaeological tasks, but
now the degree of intensity was far greater. Mistakes could not be made.
He still had with him Mace, Burton, Lucas and Callender. The Egyptian
workmen were paid off within a few days . 25 Most of the other members
of the Metropolitan Museum Egyptian Expedition left the house that

26 The details of the end of season activities are mostiy recorded in Mace’s letters to his

wife.

300

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

had been such a centre of excitement and social activity throughout the
winter. Burton, with difficulty it seems, persuaded his wife Minnie to
leave by 23 April, much to Arthur Mace’s relief. After a relatively cool
spell of weather great heat had returned to Luxor, and determined Carter
not to try to complete all outstanding work before finally closing down.
Mace commented on 26 April, ‘today it must have been well over 100 in
the shade. One thing is it is making Carter modify his ideas. His one wish
now is to get away as soon as possible.’ In early May Lucas left, and
shortly afterwards, on the 6th, Burton. They all missed the memorial
service to Carnarvon which was held in Cairo on 30 April, 2 two days
after his burial on Beacon Hill on the Highclere estate. Mace moved into
Carter’s house for the last few weeks, and there could more easily
continue to work on the writing of the first volume of The Tomb of
Tut.ankh.Amen. Mace first noted their plans, writing to Winifred on 24
April:

Spent the morning at Carter’s house working on publication matters
with him. He and I are trying to get a small popular book written to
hand in to the publishers when we get home. I’ve done the first
chapter and most of the second, and today he was dictating to me his
account of the actual discovery of the tomb. I think it should make an
interesting little book with plenty of illustrations, and if we get it out
quick enough ought to sell like anything.

And on the 28th, contemplating his move into Castle Carter:

It is about five degrees cooler than this [the Metropolitan House], as it
is on open desert just near the entrance to the Valley. It will be
convenient too, as we can get on with the book in the evenings. I have
got about five thousand words of it done now, out of about thirty
thousand that I have in mind.

Packing continued until mid-May. It was not an easy task; cases had to
be built to accommodate awkward and fragile objects. The actual packing
was a nerve-racking process, although two more experienced and accom-
plished handlers of delicate antiquities than Carter and Mace would have
been difficult to find. A steamer was to take the cases to Cairo, and the
cases were to be transported to the river on Decauville-rail trucks

27 So noted by Minnie Burton in her diary.

301

HOWARD CARTER

possibly some of the very trucks used in the clearance of the Deir el-
Bahri temple during the 1890s when Carter worked with Naville. The
little railway would provide a smoother ride over the rocky trail out of
the Valley, as it was in those days. But with insufficient track for the
distance of several miles it was necessary to move the laden trucks in
stages, transferring track from back to front as the slow convoy
advanced. On 14 May, as Carter records in his diary, ‘34 cases containing
89 boxes started at sunrise and arrived midway of Canal bank 6 pm’; on
15th, ‘Restarted sunrise and placed boxes on board boat at 10am in the
presence of mamour, Engelbach and others ready for down river trip to
Cairo - to start following morning.’ Carter himself left Luxor on 19 May
in time to meet the steamer when it berthed at Cooks wharf in Cairo on
the 21st. On the following three days the cases were transported to the
Museum, unpacked, and the objects placed on display. One may now
wonder at the apparent simplicity of the operation.

Towards the end of the season in Luxor Carter had other things on his
mind, in particular the future of the work on the tomb. On 1 May he
wrote to Lady Carnarvon: 2lS

I have been thinking of you and all, these days and I do so hope for
your dear sake such sad and trying ordeals which you must have
suffered are now fast diminishing, and too, I trust all went well [i.e. the
funeral] .

The call of the work here still to be got through — the heat appalling
these last days - made me decide not to go down to Cairo for the
memorial service. I felt that under the conditions that if we had a
restful and tranquil day to ourselves we should be doing our real duty -
I arranged that we were represented in Cairo. . . .

I found Lacau in Luxor when I returned from Cairo. He called here
(18th inst.) and we had a long conversation. His visit and conversation
was to the effect that he was in perfect agreement and harmony as to
the continuation of the work of the tomb of Tut.ankh.amen — hence my
letter to him, copy enclosed, 29 written in accordance with his wish. But
in regard to the concession itself i.e. further exploration in the valley,

28 A rough draft of this letter is in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files;

there is also a copy of the final version starting from the paragraph beginning ‘I found
Lacau . .

29 A letter which is almost certainly the one referred to here, is mentioned on p. 314
below.

302

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

he said the Egyptian Government would look upon that part of the
concession as ceasing with poor Lord C’s death. This point of view
with regard to the actual continuance of the permit for further explo-
ration in the site beyond the completion of the present discovery is in
harmony, I think, with all your views, and it is normal under such
circumstances, especially as the permit was given in virtue of Lord C.
himself, even though the condition was that I carried out the actual
work. I should add that I also asked him if there would be an objection
on the part of the Government in the event of my wishing to carry on
the excavation. He assured me that there would be none provided I
attached myself for the purpose to some scientific body. He further
added that in any case he would take no action in such a matter without
first consulting me - in other words reserve the concession.

He wrote in similar vein to Albert Lythgoe on 6 May, adding comments
on the excellent work his colleagues were performing on the objects. 311
He particularly praised Burton who had left that day,

having completed his section of the recording in a splendid and admi-
rable manner. In fact I do not know how to praise Inis work suffi-
ciently. He had a colossal task which he carried out to the end in the
most efficient manner possible, and I should like to convey through
you my most sincere gratitude to your trustees and Director for his
good aid.

A letter from Sir John Maxwell, who as Carnarvon’s executor was
giving much help and advice to the family, informed Carter of recent
developments in England, some of which would require Carter’s atten-
tion on his return: 31 ‘Everything since Her Ladyship returned has, I
believe gone off without a hitch. She is quite calm and collected and
there has been no contretemps.’ He describes an unfortunate brush with
a press photographer on Beacon Hill and continues on Carnarvon’s
collection: ‘The collection at Highclere passes to Almina and I think she
intends to move it to Seamore Place, but not yet.’ After mentioning
potential difficulties over the estate generally, he informs Carter: ‘I am
urging that the arrangement with the Times should not be renewed until
you have had your say, and this view will I think be accepted.’

30 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

31 Dated 5 May, in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

303

HOWARD CARTER

As the time approached for his return to England, Carter was faced
with problems and potential problems of such a diversity as he had never
previously encountered. The exceptional discovery had generated excep-
tional expectations, and he was exposed to a variety of duties and
demands which would not cease with Inis leaving Egypt. Apart from the
organizational, archaeological and bureaucratic necessities of his work, he
had become the target of an increasing deluge of mail from well-wishers,
opportunists, scroungers, and even a few legitimate enquirers. Arthur
Mace helped him with the sifting of the daily flood, but there was no way
in which most of the letters could even be acknowledged. 32 Miss Christine
Walls of Sydney, Australia, sent one shilling for a ‘relic of ancient times’;
Louis Silverstein of New York wanted his autograph; Miss Fred Etter of
Alamosa, Colorado, offered to sell him a piece of the first Atlantic cable;
Mrs M. Piper of Liverpool more modestly asked for a little sand from
near the tomb, or a photograph; Miss Lilian Pharaoh of Southsea
wondered about her name; Kh. Nizam el-Moulk from Paris revealed
himself as having formerly been the Emperor Tut-ank-Hamon; Luke
Mahon, aged 6, of Ahascragh, Ireland, sent best wishes in a home-made
card with Egyptian motifs; Mohammed Nour Mohammed Baba of Cairo
placed himself in readiness for his service. These and many other letters
form a pathetic, strangely touching testimony of the profound interest the
discovery had generated. On a rather better informed level, James
Breasted, writing just before Carnarvon’s illness developed to congratu-
late Carter on all he had done in this first season, put the matter well:”

Lest I should not have another opportunity, let me say here that
among those who know and whose opinion is worth having, there is
universal admiration of what you have accomplished since last
October. Without a secretary, without a stenographer or clerical assist-
ance, under crushing pressure from all sides, staggering under respon-
sibilities enough to break down a dozen men, you have quietly and
persistently pressed on, with the sole purpose of being true to your
scientific obligations. Obliged by circumstances to carry on one cease-
less social function, while at the same time salvaging with brilliant
success the greatest body of archaeological material ever found, - that is
an achievement absolutely without parallel, and it has aroused in us all

32 A group of these occasional letters, formerly among the Mace Papers, is now in the
Griffith Institute, Carter archive.

33 Copy of this letter of 6 March in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1923.

304

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

the deepest sympathy with you as you have daily met and overcome
these unprecedented difficulties.

Breasted had ulterior motives in writing so, especially in a letter dealing
otherwise with Carter’s publication prospects and his own work on the
seal impressions in the tomb. He saw in the discovery wonderful oppor-
tunities for the promotion of Egyptology in the United States, and
particularly in the further stimulation of the interest of John D. Rock-
efeller Jr. The latter was the financial backer of much of Breasted’s work
in the University of Chicago, in the establishment of the Oriental Insti-
tute in that university, and in the launching of the Egyptian expedition to
be based in Chicago House at Luxor - the last a project about to be real-
ized on the ground. From the outset Breasted had kept Rockefeller well
informed of the progress of the discovery, writing huge letters to him
with much background information about the stages of the excavation . 34
He had hoped that the Rockefeller family would come out to Egypt in
the following season, and might be in Luxor when the royal sarcophagus
was opened. In preparation for such a visit, and generally in the hope of
further Egyptological propaganda in America, he was eager to obtain
slides of the discovery so that he, and others, could give lectures. His
requests for slides and for photographs to illustrate specially written arti-
cles were highly embarrassing for Carter who was constrained both by
the agreement with Th<? Times and by his own reluctance to allow others
to exploit his discovery in ways which he might be able to follow himself.

The prospect of lecturing was something new for Howard Carter. The
matter began to be urgent during his stay in Cairo at the time of Lord
Carnarvon’s death. After his return to Luxor he told Mace about offers
he had received to lecture in Paris and Madrid on his way home : 35 ‘The
question of lectures is going to be rather a serious one. I don’t think
Carter has ever given one in his life, and he doesn’t in the least know how
to set about it. Someone wrote and proposed that he should take the
Queen’s Hall for so many afternoons a week!’ The following day Mace
returned to the subject:

He wanted to talk on all sorts of future plans, and was most generous
in his ideas that I should kind of come into partnership with the firm,
and share in all the benefits that may accrue therefrom. He also

34 In particular the letter of 29 December 1922 mentioned on p. 272 above.

35 In his letter to Mrs Mace of 16 April.

305

HOWARD CARTER

wanted to know if I would share a kind of lecturing programme with
him. I dont know what to think. He has been approached by various
agencies, and has had telegrams from Paris and Madrid offering him
£50 in cash and travelling expenses from Marseilles to deliver lectures
there on Iris way home. That of course is impossible as there are no
slides at present.

The threat of having to lecture may not have pleased Carter, but he
surely knew that the demands would come and that he would scarcely be
able to avoid his distinct obligation. He had a little earlier been put under
some pressure by Breasted over another possible lecture. Breasted had
been asked to speak about the tomb of Tutankhamun to the British
Association for the Advancement of Science in Liverpool in the
following September. He told Carter of the invitation, saying that ‘it
would be inappropriate for me to do so’. He continued: 36

In declining the invitation, I would like also to add, that in my judg-
ment, are the one who should report on the tomb on this impor-
tant occasion, before the assembled scientists of Great Britain, and to
urge as strongly and tactfully as I can, that you be invited to do so. I
can hardly do this without first asking your consent. I hope you will
concur. ... I assure you it would give me the sincerest pleasure to
know that you were to appear before this greatest scientific body in
the world, to tell there, in company with Lord Carnarvon, who has
already been invited, the story of your great discovery. ... I think this
address ought to be given by an Englishman and I think it ought to be
given by the discoverer of the tomb.

Breasted ended the letter with the further appeal for material to use in
his own lectures: ‘On the American side of the water however, an oppor-
tunity to speak of the tomb would be of the greatest assistance for the
future of my work. If I could show to Mr. John D. Rockefeller Jr. on a
curtain in his home, a series of slides exhibiting your great discovery, it
would immensely aid me in enlisting his further support of my enter-
prises, especially the work of the Oriental Institute.’ No answer from
Carter has been preserved; the time was bad for him. It is known,
however, that Breasted turned down the British Association invitation
and that it was then offered and taken up by Professor Grafton Elliot

36 A draft of this letter in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1923. It is dated 21 March.

306

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

Smith of University College London, the anatomist and author of the
standard publication on the royal mummies in the Cairo Museum. He
had expectations that he would be asked in due course to carry out the
examination of Tutankhamun’s mummy. Carter had already decided that
the autopsy would be put in the hands of Dr Douglas Derry, a pupil of
Elliot Smith, and at the time the Professor of Anatomy in the Faculty of
Medicine in the Egyptian University. An acrimonious and unpleasant
pair of letters 37 from Elliot Smith to Carter made it clear that he thought
little of Derry’s competence, and informed Carter that he would be
speaking to the British Association, without suggesting that Carter would
have been the most appropriate lecturer. It is not known if Carter had
allowed Breasted to put his name forward, and if so, had received an invi-
tation to speak. In the event, Elliot Smith did not take Tutankhamun as
his subject in Liverpool. He gave an evening lecture, ‘The Study of Man’,
concerning the interrelation of Physical and Cultural Anthropology. 38

The difficulties mounted as Carter left Egypt on 25 May. He was going
home, he must have known, to a hero’s welcome. But the route was
bordered with hazards, and the triumph at the end could be ruined by
the problems needing resolution. If he had thought of what lay ahead in
an imaginative way, he might have likened his path to that followed by a
New- Kingdom Egyptian king passing to his ultimate glory through the
gateways of the underworld, harassed by terrible demons and protected
by benevolent genii, all so vividly portrayed — and so familiar to him on
the walls of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. In the event, he slipped
quietly into England, arriving in London on 30 May. He notes in his
diary that he saw Lady Evelyn Herbert on the same day and Lady
Carnarvon on the following day, both probably at the Carnarvon town
house in Seamore Place, at the Park Lane end of Curzon Street. There
was much that he needed to discuss with Lady Carnarvon for the future
of the work in Egypt, and the resolution of problems concerning Lord
Carnarvon’s estate. According to his will, the collection of antiquities was
left to his wife with certain conditions:’ 9

I would like her to give one object to the British Museum, one object

to the Ashmolean, and a fragment cup of blue glass (Thothmes III) to

37 Letters of Elliot Smith of 13 and 23 June, and Carter’s reply to the first of these, in

Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

38 See Nature for 22 September 1923.

39 The details of Carnarvon’s will were published in The Times of 18 May 1923.

307

HOWARD CARTER

the Metropolitan Museum, New York. The first two bequests need
not be capital objects.

Should she End it necessary to sell the collection, I suggest that the
nation - i.e., the British Museum, be given the first refusal at £20,000,
far below its value, such sum, however, to be absolutely hers, free of all
duties. Otherwise I would suggest that the collection be offered to the
Metropolitan, New York, Mr. Carter to have charge of the negotiations
and to fix the price.

Should my wife decide to keep the collection, I leave it absolutely to
her whether she leaves it to my son or to the nation or to Evelyn
Herbert. I suggest, however, that she consult Dr. Gardiner and Mr.
Carter on the subject.

General Sir John Maxwell, in his letter to Carter on 5 May, had
mentioned that Lady Carnarvon might move the collection to London
‘but not yet’. He also told Carter with a degree of frankness which
confirms Carter’s intimate relationship with the Carnarvon family, ‘that
practically everything he [Carnarvon] could dispose of by Will has been
left to her Ladyship and I think dais will prove all for the best though for
the moment Porchester resents it — If he will only play the game, and I
think he will, all will be well but he must be nice and tactful to his
Mother.’ He goes on to point out that after death duties had been paid,
‘Porchy will only be able to live at Highclere if he exercises considerable
economy and care.’ He also mentions deposits in the Bank of England,
to be left until Carter returned, and a ‘sealed envelope for you “to be
handed you [sic] in case of my death”.’

The Carnarvon collection had been built up largely with the advice
and assistance of Howard Carter, and it was he certainly who could best
deal with it. The deposits in the Bank of England might well have been
antiquities as yet unincorporated into the collection, but were more
probably monies set aside for work in Egypt. The envelope may have
contained either particular instructions for the future of the collection,
or even an additional undeclared legacy; by the will he had been formally
left £500 by Lord Carnarvon. It would not be until 1926 that he would
be required to deal finally with the Carnarvon collection, but there were
other reasons to take him to Highclere during the summer of 1923, not
least to help in the settling of Lord Carnarvon’s affairs generally. 0 Carter
in all probability knew as well as anyone what his old patron would have

40 So Carter states in a letter to Breasted of 22 June, in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1923.

308

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

wanted in many matters. He was there briefly on 16 June, and then for a
longer stay between 23 June and 2 July.

His diary entries for the summer are of the briefest kind, revealing
little of what he was actually doing; it was a busy time, spent mostly in
London, with many appointments and numerous engagements for
luncheon and dinner. Among those who saw and entertained him were
Percy White, Alan Gardiner, General Sir John Maxwell, Geoffrey
Dawson (editor of The Times), the Earl of Northampton, Sir William
Garstin, Sir Joseph Duveen (the art dealer), R. H. Molony (Carnarvon’s
solicitor), James Henry Breasted, Edward Robinson (Director of the
Metropolitan Museum), Arthur Mace, Richard Bethell, Calouste Gulben-
kian (the oil magnate and art collector). It was not all business and tactical
planning for the future, although it may be supposed that many axes
were ground in the course of the various ‘entertainments’ he attended.
He could not expect to escape Tutankhamun, and he sang for his supper,
no doubt, when he spent a weekend at Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight
as a guest of Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria
and widow of Prince Henry of Battenberg. Less formal would have been
his few days with the Amhersts at Foulden Hall, not far from the old
Amherst seat at Didlington and close to Swaffham. He may have visited
his aunts in the Sporle Road cottage during these few days, and even paid
the visit to the Allens at Cockley Cley, remembered in that family as a
special occasion; but these possible incidental visits are not recorded in
his diary. He was also a guest at one of the royal Garden Parties at Buck-
ingham Palace on 26 July. He adds to his usual laconic entry for the occa-
sion the note, ‘H.M. the King does not want the mummy removed from
tomb.’ It is not clear whether he actually received dais comment from
King George V on that day; it is not uncommon at royal Garden Parties
for particular guests to be selected from the many hundreds attending
for presentation to members of the royal family. He may, however, have
been reporting what had been said to Carnarvon when he was received
by die King and Queen Mary in December 1922.

Carter’s round of engagements, practical and social, was demanding,
and gave him litde opportunity to recuperate from the trials of the
season in Egypt. In a letter to Breasted, written after his return to Egypt
in the autumn of 1923, he apologized for failing to answer an earlier
letter from the rather importunate professor: 41 ‘I was so terribly rushed
before returning that I hardly knew which way to turn. In fact during the

41 Written in Luxor on 23 October 1923, in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1923.

309

HOWARD CARTER

whole time I was in England I didn’t get one week’s holiday.’ Breasted
had again raised strongly the matter of slides for use in the USA, and of
Carter’s own possibilities of lecturing. In the late summer Carter had
himself taken the plunge. His first formal public lecture was given on 10
September at the invitation of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. It
was presented in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, before an audience esti-
mated at over 3000, with the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir Thomas
Hutchinson, presiding. Carter showed 145 slides, both black and white
and coloured, and his lecture was well received, although the newspaper
reports do not say much about his delivery or presentation. Later in the
month came three lectures given in the New Oxford Theatre; the first
was on 21 September, before an audience invited by Almina, Countess of
Carnarvon, and presided over by Sir John Maxwell. It was a glittering
company of society notables, according to the report in The Times', among
his professional supporters were Petrie, Newberry, Gardiner and Mace.
On this occasion moving pictures were shown as well as slides, and
Again and again the audience broke into enthusiastic applause.’ Two
further comments are of interest: ‘Mr. Carter is a good lecturer and
spoke gracefully and with ease’, and ‘Mr. Carter speaks on this subject
with an authority which no one else can approach.’ On the 25th, with
Maxwell again presiding, he spoke for two hours: ‘he kept this large audi-
ence so intensely interested by a delightful combination of narrative,
description, and pictures that they never broke silence for any purpose
but to applaud.’ A hint of a slightly more critical response to Iris first
essays in public speaking comes in a letter written by Breasted to
Gardiner in 1924 after Carter’s visit to lecture in Chicago: 4 ” ‘He had
dropped the note of high tragedy to which you referred in commenting
on his London lectures.’

It may be supposed that in his London lectures, particularly that spon-
sored by Lady Carnarvon, he had spoken movingly and dramatically
about the tragic death of Lord Carnarvon. It may also be suggested that
if he had just stood in front of his audience and shown his slides with an
occasional comment he would still have been deemed a great success.
Nevertheless, the first experiences were sufficiently encouraging to
persuade Carter to follow up the negotiations he had started during the
summer with an agency to manage a lecture tour for himself in America
in 1924. Two entries in his diary indicate approaches by (or to) the
Keedick Lecture Bureau Inc. It is not clear whether he met Mr Lee

42 Letter dated 12 June, in G.I. Gardiner Corr. AHG/42.37.13.

310

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

Keedick himself, or a representative, but the outcome was an agreement
with the Bureau for a tour to be undertaken in the following year after
the winter season in the Valley had ended.

A further persuasive reason which may have driven Carter to make the
agreement may have been provided by a long letter which Breasted had
written to him in London on 1 July. 4 ’ It was an extraordinary piece of
special pleading, masquerading under a rather transparent cloak of disin-
terestedness. He wrote of the development of the specialized popular
lecture in the States; how a distinct category of well trained speakers had
evolved; and how he himself had both helped and profited from such
professionals. If Carter were to come to America he would need to be
properly equipped: ‘This kind of experience, which lies so far away from
the path of any one living in Europe, I should be very glad to put at your
disposal. ... I have had a long business experience with this kind of thing
in America.’ The letter contained much good advice, but was distinctly
overdone, and more than a little disingenuous. Whoever later wrote at
the top of the letter Ass Carter knew where he was going’, put his finger
on the right spot.

Breasted pointed out further that ‘lectures on the tomb have been
given all over the United States and continue to be given at present.’
After his return to America he wrote disgustedly to Gardiner: 44

You will be interested to know that Weigall is about to make a tour in
America lecturing on the tomb. After his disgraceful defamation of
Lord Carnarvon as a man who was debasing archaeology for merce-
nary ends it is highly edifying to see Weigall lecturing in America with,
of course, no other purpose in view than beneficially enlightening the
American public on Egyptian Archaeology.

He also included a mention of Weigall’s forthcoming tour in a letter he
sent to Carter, the principal purpose of which was to inform him of a
small ancient astronomical instrument bearing the name of
Tutankhamun, formerly in the MacGregor collection, which he had
acquired in London for the museum of the Oriental Institute. 45 It was
undoubtedly an object not from Carter’s tomb, but probably from that of
King Tuthmosis IV on which Carter had worked in 1902—3. Giving

43 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

44 G.I. Gardiner Corr. AHG/42.37.14.

45 Copy in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1923. The object is numbered 12144.

311

HOWARD CARTER

Carter full details of this small but interesting and pertinent piece,
Breasted further fostered what he hoped would be the improving rela-
tionship which would lead to some fruitful outcome through Carter’s
lectures in the States. There can be no doubt that he was shocked by
Weigall’s behaviour, although on cool reflection he might have recog-
nized that Weigall had as much right to lecture on the tomb as many
perhaps more academically respectable people who had attempted to
satisfy the public demand in Britain, America and Europe. Capart in
Belgium was thought to have behaved a little improperly in trying to
obtain photographic material from The Times for his own lectures and
presentations to the Belgian royal family. 46 Griffith and Newberry had
both spoken on the tomb, and both had contributions of a useful kind to
offer. Public interest could not be assuaged by a reluctant Carter, who in
the summer of 1923 had many important things on Iris mind. Weigall too
could make a useful contribution from his particular knowledge of the
Theban Necropolis, and his months of surreptitious activity after the
discovery of the tomb; but his behaviour in those months had seriously
diminished his reputation as a good Egyptologist. For Breasted Weigall’s
American tour seemed like a gratuitous insult to Carnarvon’s memory.
He himself had been urged to lecture in the University of Chicago but,
mindful of Carter’s sensitivities, had reluctantly refused all approaches. In
a postscript to a letter to Dr Edgar J. Goodspeed, Secretary to the Presi-
dent of the University, 4 ' he wrote:

I have just received information to the effect that the Pond Bureau is
advertising Weigall as the discoverer of the tomb. Under these circum-
stances you can understand how reluctant I am to be involved in any
way in premature competition with Carter’s coming lectures.

One task that took up some of Carter’s time during the summer of
1923 was the completion and printing of the first volume of the popular
book on the discovery. He worked closely with Arthur Mace on the text,
and the work benefited immensely from Mace’s greater skill as a writer of
decent English prose. Much of the text is composed in the first person as

46 A disagreeable exchange of letters between Capart, The Times and Carter caused much
pain in Brussels. Material at first sent to Capart was later recalled to London. Letters
are in the Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth, Brussels, and were brought to my
attention by M. Arpag Mekhitarian. Carter was almost pathological in his opposition
to having his discovery exploited by others.

47 Goodspeed was himself a distinguished classical scholar and Greek papyrologist.

312

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

if by Carter himself, and his own voice does come clearly through. Parts
had been dictated to Mace in the evenings they had spent together in
Carter’s house at Elwat ehDiban towards the end of the season. Some
help, both stylistically and in matters of general book production, was
also received from Percy White, an author of considerable experience.
But the principal labour of writing had fallen on Mace, and it is likely that
he too was principally responsible for seeing the book through the press.
The volume also contained a memoir on the Earl of Carnarvon by his
sister Lady Burghclere - a model of affectionate and perceptive writing -
and a generous series of illustrations from Harry Burton’s photographs.
Carter himself was surely involved closely in the form and appearance of
the book - matters in which he had always shown particular interest in
the past. It was to be a good, if not lavish, production, and finally few
complaints could be raised against the printing of the text or the repro-
duction of Burton’s photographs. Its assembly and binding were perhaps
not as sturdy as a fairly thick volume required, and many surviving copies
display broken spines, loose plates, and a general tendency to disintegra-
tion. But these weaknesses — not uncommon in book production of the
period - would not have been immediately noticeable, and in the absence
of distinct complaints from Carter (and in the fact that the two later
volumes were similarly produced), it is reasonable to assume that he was
satisfied. Cassell and Co., the publishers, had done well to get it out in a
matter of months.

The Tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen , vol I, in spite of having been produced
widr such expedition, had stiff opposition to contend with. S. R. K.
GlanviUe, reviewing it in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. , vol. XI, in the
following year, noted that in issuing what was intended as a popular
account, Carter and Mace were pitching themselves against all those who
had written the innumerable articles in journals, newspapers and periodi-
cals. He did not mention the books that had been rushed into print by
authors, some of them distinguished scholars, eager, as they might have
said, to satisfy the passionate interest of the general public. In the course
of 1923 the prolific Sir Ernest Wallis Budge published Tutankhamen,
Amenism, Atenism and. Egyptian Monotheism', a series of articles by Jean
Capart was translated post-haste into English by Warren R. Dawson, and
published as The To?nb of Tutankhamen', Grafton Elliot Smith produced,
rather provocatively and insensitively, Tutankhamen and the Discovery of his
Tomb by the late Earl of Carnarvon and Mr. Howard Carter, and the indefati-
gable Arthur Weigall cobbled together Tutankhamen and other essays. All

313

HOWARD CARTER

these books were opportunist and inadequate as far as the discovery
itself was concerned, but as a group they tended to spoil the field for the
more authoritative work of Carter and Mace.

Carter himself missed the actual day of publication and the initial press
reactions, for he left London for Egypt on 3 October; but he may have
seen an advance copy before leaving. He recorded the arrival of the first
copies in Luxor on 17 November. On 15 November Lady Burghclere
wrote enquiring after the presentation copies she had expected, and she
comments, 48 ‘I hope you are pleased with the reviews? Those I have seen
are very benedictory.’ She mentions also another event - a family matter
which Carter had missed: ‘Evelyn Herbert’s marriage was very pretty and
she looked very happy - the delicious bridesmaids were like a group of
Botticelli babes. Your salver quite magnificent and beautiful beyond
everything there.’ So much then for the supposed affair of less than a
year before! She married Bograve Beauchamp, son of Sir Edward Beau-
champ the Chairman of Lloyds, to whose baronetcy he would succeed in
a very few years.

If Carter received letters of congratulations on the book, they have not
survived, but he did keep a letter from Sir Clive Wigram, Assistant
Private Secretary to King George V:

I am desired by the King to thank you for the book which you have
been so good as to send to his Majesty and which the King is much
pleased to possess.

Your daily progress at Luxor is followed with the closest interest by
the King.

When he arrived in Egypt in October, Howard Carter had every
reason to think that he would have a relatively trouble-free season. The
future of his own work at Luxor had seemingly been settled formally by
an exchange between himself and Lacau. 44 In his letter to Lady
Carnarvon of 1 May he had enclosed a copy of the note he had written
to Lacau confirming the points they had agreed on in conversation after
Lord Carnarvon’s death: ‘I beg to state formally that the family of the
late Earl of Carnarvon have every desire to continue in his memory that
undertaking. In other words, they wish me to represent them in that
particular undertaking’ Lacau sent his authorization ‘pour achever la

48 Letter in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

49 See p. 303 above.

314

THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND DEATH

deblaiement de la tombe de Tout.Ankh.Amon (to complete the clearance
of the tomb of Tutankhamun)’, on 12 July, and asked for it to be signed
by Lady Carnarvon. 0 " The authorization made it clear that it was
confined to the tomb, that it remained valid firstly until 1 November
1923, and then secondly until 1 November 1924. It could be renewed if
the work remained unfinished, and the conditions of the concession
would be as before. The Antiquities Service undertook to exercise its
rights of control on the site to avoid the Press comments of the
preceding year, and to protect the excavators as far as possible from
pointless visits. Lady Carnarvon had signed her approval.

The principal differences between the old and new concessions lay in
the territorial limitation of the work to the tomb of Tutankhamun, and in
the characterization of the work as deblaiement instead of fouilles , i.e. ‘clear-
ance’ as opposed to ‘excavation’. Carter could not have hoped for a more
satisfactory settlement, and as the separate but crucial question of partage ,
‘division’, had not been mentioned, he had some reason to think that the
expectations of the Carnarvon family might yet be partially fulfilled. In
the course of 1923 Lacau and the government had agreed that the
controversial new law concerning partage would not be implemented for
at least one more season; by that time some decision on the
Tutankhamun objects should have been reached. And so, by way of the
Simplon Express, Trieste, and the S.S. Helouan, Carter reached Cairo on 8
October. A few days settling details for the season’s work with James
Quibell in the Cairo Museum should be sufficient before he could start
work in Luxor. It would not turn out so simply.

50 Carter’s letter to Lacau, and the authorization documents are reproduced in the
Statement , p. 6. This compilation was put together by Carter, probably with the help of
Mace, as background material in his dispute with the Egyptian government in the
winter of 1923—4. See p. 317, n. 2 below.

315

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

The season which was planned to start as promptly as possible
in October 1923 was prefaced by encouraging meetings in Cairo
and Alexandria within a few days of Howard Carter’s arrival in Egypt
on 8 October. The promise at the outset was fulfilled in small
part only, and contained no hint of the desperately unhappy events
which were to lead to the closure of his work and, as it seemed,
the total disintegration of his plans for the proper completion of the
clearance of the tomb of Tutankhamun, and the servicing of the
objects remaining in three chambers and in the laboratory tomb of
Sethos II.

It would be good to pass over these trying months, noting only
the positive archaeological work which was accomplished. Unfortu-
nately, much of what happened between October 1923 and April
1924 concerned not only the progress of Carter’s enterprise, but
also the future of archaeological work in Egypt generally. The
behaviour of the principals in the troubles — Carter and his
colleagues, especially Arthur Mace; Pierre Lacau and his assistants
in the Antiquities Service; members of the Egyptian and British
administrations; the Egyptologists who were deeply concerned with
the work in Thebes; the legal representatives of Carter and the
Carnarvon estate; and some press-men - needs more than passing
consideration. The course of events has been exhaustively tracked
elsewhere, 1 and may be studied in detail (for the period up to
February 1924) in a dossier compiled by Carter, helped probably by

1 See T. Hoving, Tutankhamun. The Untold Story (New York, 1978), chapters 25—32.

316

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

Mace. 2 Here only the general lines of the inexorable march of events
will be set out with the purpose of illustrating how foolishly intelli-
gent men can behave when the pressure of incidental, even trivial,
factors causes the suspension of common sense, and the neglect of
the general interests and the requirements of science.

When volume two of The Tomb ofTut.ankh.A?nen appeared its Preface,
dated November 1926, shows Carter in unusually subdued and unvindic-
tive mood (probably under the editorial influence of Percy White),
recalling tranquilly what took place in the winter of 1 923— 4: 3

Gradually troubles began to arise. Newspapers were competing for
‘copy’, tourists were leaving no efforts untried to obtain permits to
visit the tomb; endless jealousies were let loose; days, which should
have been devoted to scientific work, were wasted in negotiations too
often futile, whilst the claims of archaeology were thrust into the back-
ground. But this is no place for weighing the merits of a controversy
now ended, and it would serve no good purpose to relate in detail the
long series of unpleasant incidents which harassed our work. No man
is wise at all times — perhaps least of all the archaeologist who finds his
efforts to carry out an all-absorbing task frustrated by a thousand pin-
pricks and irritations without end. It is not for me to affix the blame
for what occurred, nor yet to bear responsibility for a dispute in which
at one moment the interest of archaeology in Egypt seemed menaced.

How such storms arise is never quite clear. In such conflicts there
always enter causes which are intangible, while the spirit of mischief is
active in most human affairs. To expect at such times complete fair-
ness and impartiality is to ask too much. Moreover, a man may inherit
obligations which it is his obvious duty to carry out, although he
personally has not incurred them, and he is certainly not responsible
for the acrimony that may be imported by varying sentiments, political
and otherwise.

2 T he Tomb of Tut. ankh.Amen. Statement with Documents as to the Events which occurred in Egypt
in the Winter of 1923 -4, leading to the ultimate break with the Egyptian Government (London,
1924), Marked ‘[For Private Circulation only\ ’ and printed by Cassell and Company Ltd,
the publishers of Carter and Mace’s first volume. The distribution of copies was
limited and probably small. The copy used for reference here belonged to Newberry
and is in the Griffith Institute, Oxford, Carter Papers VI, 13. See addenda, p. 487 below.

3 H. Carter, The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , II (London, 1927), p. xiii.

317

HOWARD CARTER

This eminently sensible assessment of the troubled period through
which Carter had with litde adroitness, but with much help and advice,
attempted to guide the progress of his work to an unexpectedly happy
outcome, places little if any importance on the one factor which above all
had seriously destabilized most administrative procedures in Egypt. Poli-
tics, directly or indirectly, were at last significantly affecting the running
of the country, which had seemed so well organized and competently
carried out under the British Protectorate.

In March 1 922 the Sultan Ahmed Fuad had been proclaimed king as
Fuad I, and in April 1 923 a new constitution for Egypt was promulgated.
There was to be universal male suffrage, with a Senate and House of
Deputies, the membership of which would be partly elected and partly
appointed. Suddenly Egypt had the possibility of becoming a modern
democratically run country, a situation which its politicians were ill
prepared to exploit judiciously. The administration was still dominated
by British officials headed by the High Commissioner, Lord Allenby. The
Protectorate was formally abolished, but in matters of international rela-
tions, imperial communications, and the Sudan, control remained in
British hands until their transfer could be negotiated. In domestic
matters the new Egyptian administration could exercise far greater influ-
ence than formerly, and could act without the careful regard for British
and foreign interests generally which had characterized internal govern-
ment under the Protectorate, and earlier this century. The main Egyptian
political party, with a strong popular following, was known as the Wafd, a
word which means delegation, having been appropriated by the group of
nationalists who claimed to represent the majority of Egyptians
demanding complete autonomy for Egypt in 1918 at the end of the
Great War. The principal leader of the Wafd in 1923 was Saad Zaghlul
Pasha, who had recently been allowed to return to Egypt after a short
period of political exile. A lawyer by training, Zaghlul was a man of
vision but was not very astute in negotiation, and in the autumn of 1923
he was preparing the ground for the first general election planned for
early 1924. There was every expectation that the Wafd would gain most
seats, and that Zaghlul would become Prime Minister. Nationalists and
nationalistic politics were very much in the ascendance. 4

4 The historical background outlined here can be studied in many good histories of
modern Egypt. I have consulted J. Marlow, -Anglo-E gyptian Relations 1800—1953
(London, 1954), chapters 9, 11; also the excellent summary by P. M. Holt in The Ency-
clopaedia Britannica, 15th ed. (1974), vol. 6, pp. 498f.

318

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

Howard Carter would certainly have been aware of political develop-
ments in the country, but he, no more probably than most foreign
archaeologists who knew Egypt well - as they would have claimed - may
not have comprehended the consequences of what was happening. A
greater appreciation of political reality had undoubtedly penetrated the
Antiquities Service, the head of which, Pierre Lacau, had from the begin-
ning of his administration sensed how things were changing, and how
possibly the control of archaeological matters in Egypt would have to be
accommodated to the requirements of politicians who would not be
brow-beaten by the British officials who ostensibly served them. It is
now very hard to determine whether Lacau was prompted in his moves
to limit the rights of foreign excavators in the country by a sincere desire
to protect the interests of Egypt itself, to trim his activities to curry
favour with the nationalist politicians, or to act in such a way as to please
the politicians in order to protect the particular interests of the Antiqui-
ties Service.

If he were playing a clever waiting game, Lacau certainly concealed his
motives so successfully that in the course of the winter 1923—4 he
managed to alienate many foreign Egyptologists who were otherwise
predisposed to admire him as an excellent scholar. Unfortunately, the
accessible surviving documentation is substantially anti-Lacau, and it
provides a seriously unfavourable impression of his activities and
motives. To judge his behaviour impartially is difficult in the face of so
much adverse opinion; and yet there are some indications which suggest
that he was a man trapped into false positions by his own well-inten-
tioned but ill judged purposes. 5 It was inevitable, in the stress of events,
that Lacau was compared unfavourably with Maspero, whose indulgence
towards foreign excavators became a source of serious criticism towards
the end of his second term of duty as Director-General. Memories can
be short when it is convenient to forget the inconvenient.

In the outline of events which took place between Carter and Lacau
and other members of the Antiquities Service and members of the
government and their senior officials, it should be remembered that
Carter was already saddled with the reputation of being a difficult, stub-
born, unreasonable, person - someone who had already in his career
caused much trouble in governmental circles and to his indulgent chief
Maspero over the Saqqara incident of 1905. Here memory worked to his
disadvantage. Although his earlier behaviour is only once invoked in

5 See further on Lacau’s standing with foreign archaeologists, p. 342 below.

319

HOWARD CARTER

surviving documents and correspondence, his difficult temperament is
often referred to, particularly by Inis supporters like Gardiner and
Breasted. It is certain that the events of 1905 will not have been
forgotten byj. E. Quibell and C. C. Edgar. The former had been Carter’s
fellow Chief Inspector in those early days, and now was Lacau’s deputy
as Secretary-General of the Antiquities Service. Edgar had taken over as
Chief Inspector in the Delta when Carter resigned in 1905, and had
tidied up the Tukh el-Qaramus find of treasure; he too was now an
assistant keeper in the Cairo Museum, and worked closely with Quibell.

On 11 October 1923 Carter went to see Quibell to discuss matters
concerning the coming season. The two substantive problems requiring
settlement were the dissemination of news and the admittance of visitors
to the tomb. On the first it was agreed provisionally that Arthur Merton,
formerly the representative of The Tunes but now taken on as a part of
Carter’s staff, should give daily bulletins, first to The Times in the evening
and then to the Egyptian Press early the following day, so that ‘the news
would reach the public in London and Cairo practically at the same time’.
On the question of visitors Carter proposed that there should be no
regular admittance on a weekly or fortnightly basis, but that whenever a
convenient moment arrived, work should be suspended ‘for a week if
necessary, while parties of visitors pass through. They should be
admitted by tickets obtained at the Public Works Ministry.’ The following
day Carter took his proposals to Alexandria to obtain the approval of
Abd el-Hamid Pasha Suleiman, the Minister of Public works, and was
advised that all would be acceptable if the Residency (High Commission)
agreed. R. A. Furness, the second secretary in the High Commission
who dealt with matters concerning die Antiquities Service, also agreed
with what was proposed, although in a note written subsequently to
Carter on 17 October, he passed on a warning that ‘the proposals about
visitors would cause disappointment to many tourists’. 6

In some confidence that prospects for the season were promising,
Carter travelled down to Luxor on 16 October, and arrangements were
made to reopen work in the Valley of the Kings on 22 October. Carter’s
confidence would shortly be severely tested, but for the moment he
could comment grandly, but rashly, in his diary on the warning in
Furness’s letter: 7 ‘As I do not work for tourists nor am I a tourist agent I
have taken no notice of this futile remark.’ The grand manner, however,

6 On these negotiations, see Carter’s dossier. Statement, pp. lOf.

7 Diary in G.I. Carter Notebook 1, entry for 12 October.

320

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

belonged to the past, and no longer would produce the desired effect
either with Egyptian politicians or even at the Residency. Still, now all
seemed settled and he set about the preliminaries of his work with
customary system and orderliness. The environs and approach to the
tomb of Sethos II were tidied up, and the deposits covering the entrance
to the tomb of Tutankhamun removed. It was a tedious process necessi-
tating the rehabilitation of the walls surrounding the excavation down to
the entrance of the tomb, the reinstallation of the electric light supply,
and the repair of the roads leading from the tomb of Tutankhamun to
the various other tombs used for dark-room, storage and, of course, the
laboratory.

Before he had reached the point when he could reopen the tomb
itself, Carter received a number of worrying communications from
Quibell signalling trouble, particularly over the press arrangements, and a
new demand that Egyptian inspectors should be assigned to exercise
surveillance over Carter’s work. 8 A. H. Bradstreet, the combative
reporter of the Morning Post had returned to Egypt and had already regis-
tered objections to tire proposed arrangements for the daily distribution
of news, to Quibell and possibly also to the minister and his under-secre-
tary in the Ministry of Public Works, Paul Tottenham. Bradstreet’s prin-
cipal ally now was Valentine Williams, Reuters correspondent in Luxor.
Memories of the troubles earlier in the year did not encourage Carter to
show any wish to compromise. On 1 November his diary records: ‘Brad-
street appeared in the Valley. Refused to converse with him owing to his
disgraceful behaviour and action of last season.’ On 4 November he then
made the first of several trips to Cairo in which the apparently settled
agreement was taken apart, argued over, added to, and generally trans-
formed in such ways as to alienate Carter and his staff increasingly from
the representatives of the Antiquities Service and the Egyptian politi-
cians. The British officials were unable to reconcile the various sides, and
no doubt found the Tutankhamun affair an exceptionally tiresome side-
show at a time when the political situation in Egypt was highly sensitive. 9

‘Shilly-shallying’ was the term used by Carter to describe the vexing
changes of direction pursued by the people in Cairo, and it is difficult to
find a more favourable description of the behaviour which drove the
excavators to distraction in the course of that winter. The dossier
compiled by Carter with the knowledge and probable help of Mace

8 Statement , p. 1 1 .

9 Statement, pp. 12ff.

321

HOWARD CARTER

contains a progressively damaging case against the Antiquities Service
and the government, but it must be admitted that the case is presented
from Carter’s side and could therefore be charged with partiality.
However, the documentation from both sides is such that it is hard to
accuse Carter of being unfair to the opposition. On 12 November he had
apparently reached the brink of a settlement and he returned to Luxor to
force matters forward. On the 14th Arthur Mace and Richard Bethell
arrived from Cairo to join the camp, and they brought a new agreement
which was fairly satisfactory in detail, but unfortunately hedged with
reservations. Carter felt obliged to return to Cairo to consult Lord
Allenby, the High Commissioner, and to offer to Tottenham his own
hedged acceptance. Back in Luxor on 17 November he and Mace set
about the serious archaeological business of the season.

At last it looked as if work could proceed without further interruptions,
and Carter with evident satisfaction recorded in his diary for the 19th,
‘Mace commenced preservation of the couch No. 35 — lion-headed.
Lunched in magazine for first time this season, with Bethell, Merton, Mace,
Burton and Callender.’ Lucas would join them early in December, and so
too Dr Alexander Scott, the distinguished archaeological chemist, Keeper
of the recently established Research Laboratory in the British Museum. The
issue of a public communique about the tomb in Cairo on 21 November
set out plans for the season and explained the reason for the limitation of
visitors and the procedures by which permits to visit the tomb could from
time to time be obtained. 1 " But, as Carter commented in his dossier, the
suggested visitor arrangements were in time negated by die number of
permits issued by the Government. ‘At the same time there were certain
visitors for diplomatic and political reasons Mr. Carter could not well
refuse; and, moreover, whenever it was possible without causing serious
delay to the work, he extended all courtesy to Egyptian notables and their
families, considering that they, of all people, had most right to visit the
Tomb.’ Imprecision in the agreement, and Carter’s own readiness to breach
it when circumstances demanded it or seemed otherwise suitable, rendered
the superficially calm situation very uncertain. At Luxor they felt rightly that
problems could again arise. Mace wrote to Lythgoe on 26 November: 11

More than a fortnight’s time has been wasted owing to a recrudes-
cence of the politico journalistic trouble. . . . This year Bradstreet and

10 Statement , pp. 22 f.

1 1 M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

322

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

Valentine Williams of Reuters got busy again, and the Government
have let them lead them about by the nose. All the trouble started up
afresh, and impossible restrictions were being put upon Carter. The
matter was fought out for a fortnight and finally a compromise was
agreed on, which may or may not work. Carter was within an ace of
closing up the tomb and refusing to go on with it. Lacau was all up in
the air, agreed to a thing one day and contradicted it the next. Quibell,
who, as you know, doesn’t like Carter, was very aggressive, and threat-
ened that the Government would take over the tomb and work it
themselves, and Edgar was impossible. The whole Department seems
to have clean gone off their heads.

In a further letter to Lythgoe on 1 December Mace reiterates the same
points, and Carter adds a piece of his own: 12

Should anyone of the Eg. Gov. question you about whether you would
withdraw your men [i.e. Burton and Mace] on the staff, please say yes.
As I told them as much if they gave trouble. I had a lot of trouble with
Q and Lacau, far more than I expected. Both Tottenham and the
minister were far easier to deal with.

The next stage in the dispute marked by the Government’s demand,
forwarded by Quibell on 1 December, that Carter submit a full list of all
the members of his staff. 13 Such a demand, which has now been regular
for many years and a condition of the issuing of any concession, was at
the time exceptional. The Government claimed the right to exclude
anyone it saw fit to object to, and Carter understood clearly that Arthur
Merton, the ostensible representative of The Tims, was the immediate
target. Bradstreet and Valentine Williams had particularly objected to
Merton’s privileged position, and found Lacau and Quibell sympathetic
to their point of view. 14 It is not likely that the Egyptian minister or his

12 Ibid.

13 Statement , p. 24.

14 Arthur Weigall was not sent out by the Daily Mail this winter, it was thought because
he had behaved so outrageously in the previous season, see p. 354 below. Valentine
Williams describes his time in Egypt in his The World of A.ction (London, 1938), chap-
ters XXVI and XXVIII. He had first travelled to Egypt on the same boat as
Carnarvon in January 1923, became acquainted with him, and remained on reasonable
terms until the end of the first season. Of his activities in the autumn of 1923 he writes
discreetly. He left Egypt in the spring of 1924.

323

HOWARD CARTER

British officials would have cared to make an issue of the matter without
encouragement from the Cairo Museum. Carter chose to combat this
demand, and drew in due course from the Government by way of Lacau
a more peremptory demand and a statement setting out the Govern-
ment’s right to manage the matter as it thought proper. 13 In the course of
this statement Lacau voiced the Government’s position in a way that
particularly angered Carter: ‘Ces discussions nous ont prit ainsi qu’a vous-
memes beaucoup plus de temps qu’il etait necessaire, et le Gouvernement
ne discute plus mais vous transmet sa decision.’ (These discussions have
taken for us, just as for yourself, much more time than was necessary, and
the Government no longer discusses, but conveys to you its decision.)
The words ‘Le Gouvernement ne discute plus mais vous transmet sa
decision’ were objectionable and ominous. Equally ominous was the draft
of the new form of concession sent by Lacau at the same time.

For die moment Carter felt protected in the essentials of his work by
the existing permit which had been received in Lady Carnarvon’s name
in July 1923, but very vulnerable in matters marginal which for that
moment seemed to be attracting the attention of the Government. He
rightly felt that he was being given no support by the Antiquities Service,
and he chose to delay any reply until he could confront Lacau on his next
visit to Luxor. This took place on 12 December. 16 On that day Carter
was, as he said in his diary ‘seedy’, and it was not until the next day that
he was able to discuss the contentious matters with Lacau. He could not
accept the official position and told the Director-General that he now
proposed to conduct his work under the legal rights conferred by his
original concession. The interview, he noted, was made in the presence
of Lythgoe, Harkness, Mace and Callender, and was followed by an
inspection of recent discoveries from the tomb; ‘though grave as the
whole matter was, the whole incident was not without amusing aspects.’
One may presume that there was much loss of dignity and general confu-
sion, offset by the formality of the subsequent inspection. It was not,
however, a laughing matter, and any momentary satisfaction Carter may
have derived from apparently discomforting Lacau was dispersed by a
summons to Cairo and a further tiresome exchange of views with
Tottenham and the Minister of Public Works. 1 It was now made clear
that Arthur Merton was the principal target for attack, and Carter was

1 5 Statement , pp. 26f.

1 6 Ibid., p. 30.

17 Ibid., pp. 3 If.

324

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

asked by the minister to exclude him from the tomb except on normal
press days. Instructed to put his refusal to comply into writing, on the
advice of Tottenham, Carter sent a very strong letter to Lacau on 20
December in which he also complained about the publication of infor-
mation on Tutankhamun objects in the Cairo Museum Guide', he even
threatened legal action. Tottenham attempted to retrieve the situation by
stopping the letter, but Carter declared that it was too late. He had
already wired for support in London, and sent copies of all the corre-
spondence on the dispute to The Times. In a sense the die was now cast,
and the irrevocable march of events in the New Year may be said to have
its precise beginning in this act of defiance.

He arrived back in Luxor on 21 December and noted in his diary,
‘Recommenced work. Mace having already started in Lab.’ In the tomb the
principal task was the dismantling of the series of shrines enclosing what
was expected to be the royal sarcophagus. It was a difficult and slow
process: there was little room to work in; the parts of the shrines were
hard to separate; false moves would damage the plastered and gilded
surfaces of the shrine walls; there were objects placed between the shrines;
and especially risky was the removal of the linen pall with gilded rosettes
which covered the second shrine. In spite of the many interruptions and
constant worry over the future, Carter doggedly pressed on with the work,
heroically aided by Mace and Callender. Indeed the therapy provided by
the practical activities in the tomb was one of the few comforting aspects
of the situation. Carter seemed to have the ability to switch his concentra-
tion totally to the problems of the removal of the shrines, and the contin-
uing treatment of the objects taken from the tomb. 18

It is noticeable, from the entries in Minnie Burton’s diary in particular,
that Carter visited the Metropolitan House very frequently in the evenings
at this time. There he could avoid the loneliness of his own house, and also
discuss matters archaeological and political with his friends and colleagues.
Just before Christmas Arthur Mace was joined by his wife Winifred and
their daughter Margaret who was eleven; she had been brought to Egypt to
recuperate from a bad bout of typhoid. In the Maces in particular Carter
found sympathetic support. Winifred’s letters to her mother are full of
angry comments on what she, and certainly her husband, considered to be
the insufferable treatment Carter was receiving. In a letter of 21
December she reported: ‘Mr. Carter told me that Arthur’s advice behind

18 The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , II, pp. 42ff.

19 Winifred Mace’s letters were in the possession of her daughter Margaret Orr.

325

HOWARD CARTER

him and fighting instincts had helped him through.’ On 23 December she
describes her first visit to Tutankhamun’s tomb:

Today Mr. Carter sent for Margaret and me to go to the Valley. . . . An
impressive, awesome Valley. . . . Tutenkhamen Tomb is nearly the first,
hardly anyone goes there now . . . work has been so delayed and there
are so many troubles Mr. Carter may even close the work down, then
who knows what will happen. All the correspondence will be
published; everyone trusts that this will not happen.

She describes first impressions in the tomb, and then:

I climbed three steps and with a torch looked between the cover and
the shrine which is bolstered up by beams and there lay the palls of
linen, dark brown with age studded with gold buttons as were on the
wig of little Senebtisi fifteen years ago, in front of the great doors the
pall fell to pieces but the ingenious man has a plan to save the rest.

A visit to the laboratory followed, to see where Arthur Mace worked,
and she adds, ‘Margaret and Frances have an excavation and Margaret
said it gave her many ideas for their work, so the time was not wasted.’ 20
Christmas Day saw a great evening party in the Metropolitan House.
Minnie Burton had much to put down:

Xmas Day. Busy all day. With Harry and Miss Stillman up the Gurn 21
after breakfast and back for 1 o’clock lunch. Mr. Seager and M. de
Bildt for tea. Arranging Xmas tree between lunch and tea. Had all
candles going for tea. Mr. Carter and Mr. Lucas for dinner and also
Mr. Wilkinson. 17 at dinner, counting the children. Gave Frances a
Tyrolese dress in which she looked very well, and Margaret a necklace.
Ellis dressed up as a suffragi [Egyptian butler] and took us all in.
Games after and to bed at 1 .

Winifred said a little more about the games in her letter to her mother on
26 December:

20 Margaret Orr said that Carter gave her and Frances Winlock help in setting out their
excavation. He got on well with the young inhabitants of the Metropolitan House, and
on one occasion, as Margaret Orr recalled, accepted an invitation to a dolls’ tea-party.

21 The Gurn or Qurn is the pyramid- shaped peak overlooking the Valley of the Kings.

326

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

many toasts were drunk and the children had a good time; the games,
including dumb crambo 22 by the children, it was quaint seeing the
assemblage playing the most childish games. One was very amusing,
we sat around and Mr. Carter drew line by line, each one copied their
neighbour and the result was very funny.

Work in the tomb resumed immediately after Christmas and by early
January enough progress had been made for Carter to decide that the
moment had arrived when the doors of the remaining shrines could be
opened to see what lay within. Everything took longer than had been
expected, and no part of the multiple protective screens surrounding the
burial had proved so difficult as the pall. A solution was devised by Dr
Alexander Scott 23 who had been given leave by the Trustees of the British
Museum to spend some weeks in Luxor. For much of his time, unfortu-
nately, he was unable to work because of a painful carbuncle which kept
him in his hotel in Luxor. Mrs Mace noted on 16 January that he had been
able to do only one week’s work. Nevertheless he proposed a method of
strengthening the fabric so that it could be wound on to a wooden roller
and removed for further treatment and lining. On 3 January Carter
informed Engelbach that he should come that afternoon to die Valley: 24 ‘I
find that I shall be able to make an interesting experiment which I think
would interest you to see.’ And so, at about 3.00 p.m. that afternoon in the
presence of his staff, Engelbach, and a few chosen scholars who happened
to be available - Lythgoe, Winlock and Newberry among them - the doors
of die third and fourth shrines were opened to reveal widiin, and almost
wholly filling the available space, the great quartzite sarcophagus, wonder-
fully embellished with high relief carvings of the four protective goddesses
Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selkis at the corners with wings outstretched
guarding the sacred royal contents within. This further confirmation of the
intact nature of the burial was highly satisfactory, and Carter went through
the polite ritual of informing Lacau about the sarcophagus by telegram.
Lacau replied on the 5th with ‘cordiales felicitations’, and asked to be
informed when it might be opened. Carter wired agreement.

At this point it might have seemed that work could now proceed
without further interruption, according to Carter’s plan for the season;

22 Dumb crambo is a game in which one side guesses a word suggested in mime by the
other side.

23 The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , II, p. 43.

24 Statement , p. 33.

327

HOWARD CARTER

but any confidence in this prospect was shattered on the same day — the
5th — by a visit from Tottenham bringing a complaint from the minister
on two counts; first, that Carter had without official permission allowed
another representative of The Times to enter the tomb; and second, that
no Egyptian inspector had been present when the shrines were opened.
The first complaint, easily denied by Carter, was based on a malicious
telegram sent to the minister by Bradstreet; the second was equally mali-
cious in that Engelbach, the Chief Inspector, had been present and had
himself chosen not to be accompanied by one of the Egyptian inspec-
tors. It was a simple matter for Tottenham to advise the minister to take
no further action, 23 but it did not prevent Lacau from sending Carter a
strongly worded letter dated 10 January. On close and calm examination
it is clear that some of Carter’s objections to the Government’s position
on visitors (and that of the Antiquities Service) and the submission of a
list of his collaborators were accepted, but the tone of the letter was
unusually severe and unfortunate in expression. It also claimed the right
for the Museum to publish descriptions of the Tutankhamun objects on
display, and it implicitly stated that the tomb and its contents were the
property of Egypt. It prejudged, therefore, the question of any division
of the contents, a matter which Carter had hoped would remain unde-
cided until after the total clearance of the tomb.

Carter was seriously depressed by this letter, which was studied in
detail by his Egyptological collaborators and colleagues and on which he
took legal advice. 26 His answer, sent on 3 February, was not composed
before there had been other developments in Luxor. The processes of
complaint and opposition to Lacau and the Government were greatly
and perhaps foolishly stimulated by the arrival in Luxor of Gardiner and
Breasted, both of whom were heavily encumbered by feelings of respon-
sibility and by inclinations to interfere. Breasted also brought with him
his son Charles, formally acting as his secretary but also hoping to
exploit his privileged position by securing ‘scoops’ for the Chicago Daily
News. The arrangements made with this newspaper are contained in a
letter from Charles Breasted to Mr C. H. Dennis, the managing editor in
Chicago, dated 12 December 1923 and written from London. 2
Breasted’s purpose was to circumvent the arrangement with The Times:

25 Ibid., p. 34.

26 The lawyer he engaged was F. M. Maxwell, a man of considerable experience in the

Egyptian courts.

27 O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1923—4.

328

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

I must again emphasize the great importance of refraining from the
use of my name in any way in connection with the publication of any
news I may be able to gather. It is only by working in the strictest
secrecy that I shall be able to elude the unjust copyright cordon which
the TIMES has thrown round the whole story. In order not to
compromise my father’s position of confidence with those concerned
with the work, I shall show him none of my dispatches. Should Mr.
Howard Carter learn of this arrangement, my peculiar position of
vantage with relation to THE CHICAGO DAILY NEWS will be at
once killed. You understand, of course, that I shall not include in my
dispatches any items which Mr. Carter may give me or Dr. Breasted in
confidence, honor-bound; but this does not preclude my getting hold
of ‘inside’ stuff not available to any other Pressman but the TIMES,
and often even not to them.

He then requests that all dispatches be printed ‘from our Special Corre-
spondent’; and he outlines how he would send material to avoid the
surveillance of The Times.

His comments on the ‘unjust copyright cordon’ of The Times did not
prevent him from taking a stance against Bradstreet and others who were
stirring up so much trouble. Charles Breasted was rather disingenuous in
stating to Carter after his arrival in Luxor that, at the suggestion of his
father, he might be able to help him ‘in the interests of the work you are
doing in the face of such unfair opposition .’ 2 '" 1 He said that the ‘opportu-
nity had offered itself of employing the aid of two leading American jour-
nals in combatting the elements which are so wrongly arraying themselves
against your work.’ Both the Chicago Daily News and the Christian Science
Monitor would be prepared to publish, anonymously, ‘any airing you might
desire yourself or me to give to the efforts being put forth to hamper and
retard your work.’ He pointed out that The Times itself could not in good
taste defend itself - why indeed not? — and the American papers could be
seen as ‘disinterested parties of his standing’. They could, moreover,
provide useful publicity for his projected American lecture tour.

Charles Breasted then had the nerve to add that if Carter would agree,
it would not infringe his Times contract or ‘in any way lend to my father
or me the aspect of newspaper correspondents’. Howard Carter was very
prudent in his reply. 21 ’ He thanked Charles Breasted and his father,

28 In a letter of 27 January 1924 in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1923—4.

29 This and the following letters in the same archive.

329

HOWARD CARTER

thought the suggestion admirable, but advised caution because of the
recent change of government in Cairo. He ‘might communicate later
upon the subject.’ Breasted conveyed Carter’s response a day or two later
to P. S. Mowrer of the Paris Bureau of the Chicago Daily News; for the
moment they should wait, but Carter ‘feels that a fight is almost inevi-
table. In such event I shall be right on the inside, and the story, which will
at once take on an important political aspect, ought to be a good one.’
He would use the name Mecham for filing his dispatches. A letter dated 7
March, at the height of the subsequent troubles, shows that Breasted had
regularly been filing dispatches ‘with perfect smoothness’. There is no
reason to believe that he had any other motive than self-interest in acting
in this way, and there is no evidence that he seriously took advantage of
his special position to make reports to Carter’s disadvantage. Equally
there is nothing to show that Breasted ‘pater’ (as he called himself to
Charles) was aware of this litde piece of enterprise on the side by his son.

Considerable caution needs to be exercised in dealing with the events
involving Carter and Carnarvon interests on the one hand and the Antiq-
uities Service and Egyptian Government on the other during the next
few weeks. It will become clearer shortly that what happened in Luxor
did not represent in microcosm what was happening, or was likely to
happen, in archaeological expeditions elsewhere in Egypt. The extraordi-
nary nature of Carter’s discovery, the intense public interest, the press
controversy with its machinating agents, the sensitive reactions of Egyp-
tians to what seemed to be foreign archaeological monopolies, all lubri-
cated by the perfervid passions generated by Carter and Lacau in
particular, engendered a quite unparalleled turbulence in Luxor. It almost
unhinged Carter mentally, and it rendered the judgement of most of the
principals involved on both sides unreliable and increasingly partial. It
seemed certain to the senior members of the Egyptian Expedition of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art that a point of crisis had arrived which
needed drastic action. On 23 January Albert Lythgoe wrote a strong
letter to Edward Robinson, his Director, indicating die threatening signs
in what was happening:’"

A very serious situation is developing here between M. Lacau . . . and

Howard Carter . . . with regard to the work in Tutankhamen, in which

M. Lacau is clearly seeking to oust Carter and our Expedition from the

tomb in order that they may take the work over themselves.

30 M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

330

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

He mentions the ‘unending series of “pin-pricks” ’ of recent weeks and
reports the disgust at Lacau’s attitude expressed by disinterested scien-
tists. He refers to the offensive letter of 10 January, and reports that
Carter has called in a lawyer and that a case may shortly be brought in the
Mixed Tribunal in Cairo. The American expedition should not be
involved in the court proceedings, but their work will be affected by the
new form of concession which Lacau intends to introduce and make
retroactive. The proposed changes will seriously affect the prospects of
the Metropolitan Museum in Egypt, and he urges Robinson to get the
Museum Trustees to make representations to the Egyptian minister in
Washington, and to approach the French Ambassador ‘with friendly
representations as to the united opinion of the Egyptological world as to
the complete inefficiency of France’s present official appointee as
Director-General of Antiquities at Cairo.’ He sums up his opinion in
stark manner:

In plain words it has become increasingly apparent to us all during this

season that if we don’t put an end to M. Lacau, or effectively stop his

activities, he will unquestionably put an end to all archaeological work

here such as ours, and that in the very near future.

With Gardiner and Breasted now in Luxor as well as Newberry, and
all deeply involved in the work at the tomb, the possibilities for
extended discussion, even plotting, were greatly increased. Lythgoe and
Gardiner together drafted a letter to Lacau which they hoped would be
signed by Breasted and Newberry, in which they made clear their opin-
ions on recent events, on the treatment meted out to Carter, and on
Lacau’s failings as Director-General. Gardiner wrote personally to
Breasted on 27 January, 31 sending Lythgoe’s draft and requesting
Breasted, if he agreed with it, to get Charles to type it out so that
Gardiner himself could take it to Cairo on 30 January, signed by them all
including Newberry. It was an uncompromising document. It drew
attention to the danger to the scientific record of the tomb from the
many acts of interference that had taken place; it reminded Lacau of the
excellence of the work carried out by Carter and his co-workers; it
pointed out how the Egyptian Government had benefited from the
work of this and other foreign enterprises:

31 O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1924.

331

HOWARD CARTER

We feel obliged, therefore, to put ourselves on record at this time, as
calling your attention to the serious nature of the present interruptions
and to the further fact that unless the unnecessary difficulties now
obstructing the work in the Tomb of Tutankhamen are moderated, we
can only hold one opinion, namely, that you, as Director General of
Antiquities, are failing completely to carry out the obligations of your
high office to protect the scientific procedure of this albimportant task.
It is hardly necessary for us to call attention to the unfortunate effect
of such failure of your administration upon the public and the great
scientific world now so eagerly following the progress of the task.

It is not certain that Carter knew anything about this, letter until after
it was sent, but he inevitably became associated with it and with the
general activities of his well intentioned colleagues. Of these Gardiner,
now being in Cairo, was initially the most active. On 2 February he wrote
to the new Minister of Public Works, Morcos Bey Hanna, requesting an
interview/’ 2 and he was subsequently able to report to Carter on the
morning of 7 February that the minister would be friendly and was
‘willing to let bygones be bygones’. Noting this in his diary, Carter added:
‘He (Gardiner) seemed to have medled \sic\, with the affair rather much,
but with obviously good intention.’ Gardiner had also written to the new
Prime Minister in London, Ramsay Macdonald, who was also acting as
Foreign Secretary, to the British Academy (with a copy of the jointly
signed letter); and shortly he would write at length to Sir Frederick
Kenyon, Director of the British Museum, and Chairman of the Joint
Archaeological Committee in Great Britain. When Gardiner decided to
espouse a cause, he did not act by half measures; but his good intentions
were often frustrated by a failure to consult others before acting, and by
over-reaction. He was not, however, the only one who seemed to know
best in this wretched controversy. The one who suffered the conse-
quences of the unwise interventions was always Howard Carter.

He had come to Cairo following exchanges with Tottenham over the
timing for the opening of the sarcophagus and the admission of journal-
ists, and also to pay his respects to the new minister. His visit had been
preceded by the long reply he had written on 3 February in answer to
Lacau’s objectionable communication of 10 January. 3 ’ It was carefully

32 A draft of this letter and of the others written by Gardiner, mentioned here, are in G.I.
Carter Papers VI, 13 A.

33 Statement , pp. 36ff.

332

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

argued, covering all the points raised by Lacau, rehearsing all the recent
interferences to the work, and drawing attention to the arbitrary tone of
the Director-General’s approach, noting in particular Le Gouvernement ne
discute plus, mais vous transmet sa decision. The letter ends on a pained,
puzzled note:

The work on which I am engaged has been done not for gain, but in
the interest of science. The discovery of the tomb has produced great
benefits for Egypt, and for the Egyptian Antiquities Department in
particular. It has also produced rights in the Earl of Carnarvon, the
author of these benefits. It is a matter of surprise and regret to me,
that whereas every other Department of the Egyptian Government
has shown only goodwill, kindness, and eagerness to help, your
Department has ever since the death of the late Lord Carnarvon not
only been endeavouring to frustrate the rights of the Carnarvon
family, but also to impede, hinder, and delay the scientific work
without which the fruits of the discovery would be wasted. I am at a
loss to End the motives for this action, but I have no doubt as to what
will be the verdict of the World of Science on the issue between us.

Before seeing the minister on the 7th, Carter was advised by
Tottenham to confine his remarks to the timing of the sarcophagus
opening. 54 He hoped that all the tiresome earlier negotiations might be
forgotten and the papers destroyed. Carter, it seems, tried to follow
Tottenham’s advice, but the minister, who received him cordially, raised
several old problems, and complained in particular of Gardiner’s visit,
which he assumed had been proposed by Carter himself. Lacau joined
the meeting ‘armed with complete dossiers’, but apart from one
exchange over visitors to the tomb, the discussions were confined to the
arrangements for the sarcophagus opening and press visits. An agree-
ment on these and related matters was drawn up by Carter, Lacau and
Tottenham on the following day, and on 9 February Carter was able to
return to Luxor. The day for the official opening was fixed for 12
February, so there was not much time to get things ready, erect the neces-
sary tackle to lift the great (and cracked) granite lid, and ensure that elec-
tric light would be available, for there had been problems over its supply.

On the morning of the 1 2th Carter met Lacau and Mohammed Pasha
Zaghlul, Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Public Works and

34 Ibid., pp. 44ff.

333

HOWARD CARTER

representing Morcos Bey Hanna at the opening/’ 5 The list of those who
were to attend the opening was agreed, and Carter mentioned that he
proposed to allow the wives of his colleagues to view the sarcophagus on
the following day, after the Press visit. Zaghlul expressed surprise at this,
for him, unexpected development and said he would have to refer the
matter to the minister; no immediate objection was raised. And so the
opening ceremony was ready to go ahead. Carter, in the second volume
of his work on the tomb, lists the names of those who were present from
both sides. 56 Archaeologically it was very impressive, including in addi-
tion to those who might be considered ‘regular’ at such ceremonies in
the tomb, others like Robert Mond, Georges Foucart, Director of the
French Institute, Bernard Bruyere, the excavator of the remarkable
workmen’s village at Deir el-Medina; also the Hon. J. J. Astor MP propri-
etor of The Times. Gardiner and Breasted were there, and the latter sent,
two days later, a long account of the proceedings to John D. Rockefeller
Jr. 37 In it he describes events before the opening, when he and Gardiner
went over the river from Luxor to have lunch with Carter and his staff:
There was huge tension in the air, and there were few signs of the happy
expectancy that had characterized the day when a similar gathering
viewed the entry into the Burial Chamber:

We sat down and rested in the shade and quiet of the little sunken area
at the head of the entrance stairway where we had so often sat with
Carnarvon but one short year before. ... At one o’clock he and
Callender came out, tired and dusty. Carter looked ill and said he felt
so. We walked down to Number 41 58 and sat down to lunch. I looked
around. There we were sitting, the same group in the same order as
when we lunched with Carnarvon on the memorable day almost
exactly a year before - the day when the burial-chamber was opened.
But now Carnarvon’s chair at the head of the table was occupied by
Carter who pulled out a roll of papers. It was a communication from
Morcos Hanna, Minister of Public Works, decreeing in needlessly
autocratic and offensive terms the tomb program for the next few
days. We talked of nothing else throughout the lunch, and Carter told
me the whole thing had made him ill.

35 Ibid., pp. 49 ff.

36 The Tomb of Tutankhamen, II, pp. 50f. for list and Carter’s account of the opening.

37 O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1 924.

38 Tomb no. 4 (Ramesses XI) was the lunch tomb.

334

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

Just after 3 o’clock the whole group gathered in the tomb, and shordy
after, with a few pauses to adjust the tackle, the great lid was raised and
slung clear to about two feet above the sarcophagus. Breasted makes
much of the occasion, embellishing his description with imaginative
comments. He considered the figures of Tutankhamun’s successor, King
Ay, shown on the far wall supervising the original burial:

To me at that moment the painted Pharaoh on the wall seemed to take
on a strange though ghostly reality; why did I feel a sense of unworthi-
ness as I looked up at him? Why did he seem so calmly superior? . . .
[There] stood Eye [Ay] still calmly extending his censor and still
burning the last incense to the soul of his dead predecessor.

When the ropes of the tackle had been secured, Carter and Mace began
to unroll the discoloured, brittle, linen shrouds covering the coffin which
could clearly be discerned beneath the wrappings:

Complete silence ensued. It had in it something of the oppressiveness
of those silent intervals in funerals of our own day. At the same time,
reminding for all tire world of the routine efficiency of modern under-
taker’s assistants, Carter and Mace stepped quietly forward to the head
of the mute figure.

After several pages of reflections on the last days of the youthful king, on
the fate of his wife, and on the political moves of those who were to
succeed him, Breasted describes the moment of revelation as the last
layers of shroud were rolled back from the coffin:

we suddenly saw the gleaming gold of the vulture head and the
upreared cobra on the King’s forehead; we saw his eyes seeming to
look out upon us as if in life itself, and as the shroud rolled downward
the King’s whole figure burst upon us in all the splendour of shining
gold.

None of the Egyptologists present would have doubted that a nest of
coffins would be found in the sarcophagus, but none could have known
how the burial would have been furnished for a king, and none could
have expected to see such remarkable beauty in such excellent condition:

335

HOWARD CARTER

What we saw, as we had dimly known from the first moment, was the
lid of the outer coffin, cunningly wrought by the portrait sculptor,
with the aid of the lapidary and the goldsmith, into a magnificent
portrait figure of the king lying as if stretched out on the lid of the
coffin, like a crusader on his tomb slab in some European cathedral. . .

. As a work of art, no known anthropoid coffin lid can approach it.

The whole operation had taken barely one hour. It was a moment of
great triumph for Carter, and he was sufficiently buoyed up to take the
whole party for a small celebration in Tomb no. 4, that of Ramesses XI,
the luncheon tomb which had witnessed many joyful toasts in the last
fifteen months. Carter then seems to have gone home as soon as he
could, to rest and prepare for the Press viewing on the following day.
Minnie Burton does not put him down for dinner on the 12th. Any feel-
ings of triumph, or even satisfaction, were quickly dispersed on the
following morning.

Lacau has been blamed for what happened next, although it seems
certain from surviving documents that he only became involved in the
tragic sequence of events when decisions had been taken in Cairo
without his advice.’ 9 Late on the 12th, Mohammed Pasha Zaghlul
received a communication from his minister forbidding the visit by the
wives of Carter’s collaborators to the tomb after the Press visit. Carter
was not informed until early on the 13th, but the information was passed
to Lacau earlier. In a pencil note, undated, unplaced and untimed,
Richard Bethell wrote to Newberry: 4 "

Have you heard the latest? A wire came last night from the Minister
forbidding the visit of the ladies today. Lacau was wringing his hands
and his beard to me up to 12.30 last night. ‘Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu, que
faire!’ I don’t know what H.C.’s action will be, very likely to start filling
in the tomb at once.

Carter received the information in a note from Mohammed Zaghlul at
6.40 in the morning; it came ‘as a thunderclap’. What right had he in the
tomb? Off he went, first to the Metropolitan House. Winifred Mace
described to her mother what happened: 41

39 Statement , pp. 50ff.

40 G.I. Newberry Corr. 4/104.

41 Letter of 13 February 1924.

336

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

Mr. Carter has had one indignity after another heaped upon him, and
the climax was when the dispatch was sent to the papers, saying it was
opened in the presence of certain native Ministers, secretaries and
moudirs and at the end Mr. Lucas and Mr. Carter — then Mons. Lacau
said the wives could not go today without a permit from Cairo, this so
infuriated the man, such an insult that a note came at eight o’clock this
morning to say Mr. Carter was coming over; he arrived looking
desperately ill and in a fury. Arthur and Mr. Lythgoe were to go over
with him to Luxor and he would tell the Minister he would shut down
the tomb and Messrs Mace and Burton had resigned.

On his way to the river to cross to Luxor Carter was shown two documents
signed by Lacau, tire first signalling the refusal to allow the ladies to visit the
tomb and instructing the drree Egyptian inspectors to keep a guard at the
tomb to prevent any unaudiorized entry ‘avec toute la courtoisie desirable’. 42
The second, a note to Carter, expressed Lacau’s unhappiness at the turn of
events, but pointing out that he had no option but to act on the minister’s
instructions. The impression is certainly given that Lacau had made no
attempt to modify the action, no matter what his personal feelings were.

Carter, Mace and Lythgoe then joined Newberry, Merton, Bethell and
Gardiner in Breasted’s room in the Winter Palace Hotel, and the day was
spent in discussing moves, drawing up statements, attempting to
moderate Carter’s understandable fury. At 12.30, after failing to see
Mohammed Zaghlul, Carter posted the following notice in the hotel: 4 ’

Owing to impossible restrictions and discourtesies on the part of the
Public Works Department and its Antiquities Service, all my collabora-
tors in protest have refused to work any further upon the scientific
investigations of the discovery of the tomb of Tut.ankh.amen.

I therefore am obliged to make known to the public that, immediately
after the Press view of the tomb this morning, between 10 A.M. and
noon, the tomb will be closed, and no further work can be carried out.

This closure was seen by the authorities as being contrary to the agree-
ment drawn up with Carter regulating procedures for visitors and contin-
uing work on the tomb, and it was thought to be unjustified. It also gave

42 Statement , p. 51.

43 For the meeting in Breasted’s room, see Breasted’s letter to Rockefeller of 14 February,
cited in n. 37 above. For Carter’s notice, see Statement, p. 51.

337

HOWARD CARTER

the authorities the opening they seemed to be seeking to take even more
drastic action. Carter on his part would almost certainly have filled in the
tomb, had he not been dissuaded by his collaborators. He was himself
dumbfounded, deeply aggrieved, furious and ill; he felt that the whole of
his staff had been insulted by the gratuitous refusal to allow the ladies
into the tomb, and that by implication the insult extended to Almina, the
Countess of Carnarvon. Utter despair pervaded those who were
affected. Winifred Mace, again voicing partly the views of her husband,
conveys the general pessimism:

[Feb. 21] The whole is a disagreeable business and Carter is such an
autocrat that to be thwarted at every turn takes all reason from him;
Arthur is writing out the statement for the lawyer and he is often in
despair to avoid Mr. Carter making wrong statements.

[Feb. ?] We feel very low tonight, things look bad and it is greatly on
the cards that Mr. Carter will not win his case, for of course in the
concession no one ever thought of all this possibility. The Egyptian
Government find this the right moment to get rid of a well known
Englishman of thirty years standing, who has had power with the
natives. I fear that it may end very badly and Carter will be forced to
give the whole thing up. . . . Mr. Carter said sadly today to Arthur ‘I am
a nuisance to myself and my friends’.

A lively exchange of notes and letters between Carter, various govern-
ment ministers, Lacau and Engelbach did nothing to cool tempers, instil
good sense, or in any way to ameliorate the situation. 44 Carter made
much of the fact that the sarcophagus lid was suspended on devices
which had been intended to be only temporary; the minister rebuked him
for not having made the lid safe before arbitrarily closing the tomb.
Carter instigated legal proceedings in the Mixed Courts, writing on 18
February to instruct his lawyer F. M. Maxwell, who had much experience
of the Egyptian courts and had an office in Alexandria. It has rightly
been pointed out that the choice of Maxwell as his lawyer turned out to
be a tactical blunder, for it was Maxwell who had prosecuted Morcos
Hanna some years earlier in a treason trial, demanding the death
sentence. Morcos Hanna was found guilty and sentenced to a relatively
short prison term; but he would remember Maxwell with little affection.

44 Statement, pp. 52f.

338

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

In mitigation of Carter’s choice it must be pointed out that he had first
engaged Maxwell in January before the change in government which had
led to Morcos Hanna’s becoming Minister for Public works. Carter’s
purpose in instituting legal proceedings was initially to secure a judge-
ment concerning his rights in respect of tire tomb, as specified in the
renewed concession permit under which he had been working. The
hearing was to take place on 23 February. He was in no mind to compro-
mise with the Government until the hearing had taken place. He also
required an apology from the Government and Lacau for the disrespect
they had shown to the wives of his collaborators. Here was a sadly
piquant stance which did not escape his supporters. Gardiner in Cairo
wrote (as he did almost every day) to Breasted who was laid up with
illness in Luxor: 4 ' 1

I heard from Delaney, Reuter’s agent here news of Carter’s reply to the
Minister. If what I hear is true, that inter alia Carter demands an
apology from Lacau. I am incredibly shocked. That Carter, the man
who himself retired from the Eg. Service because he would not give an
apology, should now stand on his dignity and demand an apology
from others, is I feel the silliest thing he could do.

That Carter requested an apology on behalf of the ladies made little
difference. 46 The memory of the events of 1 905 clearly lingered on in the
minds of many who had been about in archaeological circles in Egypt in
the early years of the century. Although Gardiner himself had not been
in Egypt at the precise time of Carter’s leaving the Service, he would
have heard much from Weigall during their months of working in the
Theban Necropolis, while Carter was still in the wilderness but about to
start his association with Lord Carnarvon. Quibell and Edgar, however,
as noted earlier, were both involved marginally in 1905, and now
centrally in 1924. Quibell no doubt felt obliged to support Lacau, in
being his deputy; but he need not have written to the Lythgoes some
days earlier defending his Director so strongly: 47

45 Letter of 20 February in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1924. Gerald Delany (spelt so),
was in charge of Reuters, Cairo.

46 Text of the telegram demanding an apology, Statement, p. 55.

47 Letter of 9 February in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

339

HOWARD CARTER

I have an impression, from a few sentences from Gardiner, from
something Firth said, from other odd words from I forget whom,
that some of you have an idea that Lacau has shown and is showing
hostility to the diggers, and particularly to Carter. Now, I want you
and your lady wife to know that my firm conviction is that anyone
who harbours such an idea is very, very unjust to Lacau. ... I have
been much struck by his patience and loyalty and the firmness with
which he has defended the diggers’ interests when they have been
threatened, as they repeatedly have been. . . .

It is not Lacau who worries Carter with this surveillance by native
inspectors, but the native Minister who is terrified by the native
journalists who are stirred up by these sweet-scented geraniums
from the garden of newspapers whose names you might guess in
three shots.

Lacau’s personal justification at this time was included in the letter he
addressed to Breasted and Gardiner on 19 February in answer, at last, to
their open letter (also signed by Lythgoe and Newberry) of 30 January. 48
He expresses great regret that differences should have come between
them, and that he had been unable to convince one of them (presumably
Gardiner) of the reasons for his actions. He remains firm in his belief
that the official decisions had been taken justly, and he ends:

As for the tomb of Tout-Ankh-Amon, no difficulty on a scientific
level has ever been raised. The work merits only praise. But it so
happens that the work is carried out in a land in which we are the
guests, which I represent in archaeological matters, and which believes
it necessary to remind excavators of its rights. I reckon that it has
clearly had the right to do so. From now on the dispute has been put
on a legal basis and the legal side will deal with Carter. I think that the
rights of the State and the interests of science are perfectly compatible
in this circumstance, and I shall endeavour to sacrifice neither the
former nor the latter.

Lacau bends little in this letter, and he shows little understanding of
the strength of feeling held by Carter’s associates and supporters. He
may have had good reasons to believe that his first duty was to support
science in the name of the Egyptian state. The Carter camp certainly

48 G.I. Carter Papers VI, 13A; the original in French.

340

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

believed that Lacau had a duty, apparendy unrecognized by him, to
support and represent the interests of the archaeologists working in
Egypt, as the result of whose activities the Egyptian Museum was
greatly enriched and the reputation of the country enhanced. Lacau,
however, may have realized that the view taken in Luxor was not
universally supported by Egyptologists elsewhere. The lines of opposi-
tion and support were not clearly drawn. Apart from Carter, Gardiner,
Breasted and the members of the Metropolitan Museum Egyptian
Expedition, the most vociferous anti-Lacau champion was Percy
Newberry. Later, in May, he wrote to T. E. Peet who had succeeded him
as Professor of Egyptology in Liverpool in 1920, lamenting the decline
of British prestige in Egypt, putting it down to, among other things,
‘French intrigue’: 49

The Carter incident is I believe the direct result of the latter. Lacau
and unluckily two or three Englishmen in the Service des Antiquites
have deliberately tried to down Carter and get the tomb into their
own hands. ... I have definitely decided never to have any further
intercourse with Lacau, Quibell, or that impossible little cad Engel-
bach. I know well that Carter is difficult but when I think of the mean
tricks that have been played on him this winter it fairly makes my
blood boil.

Newberry was certainly off mark in talking of ‘French intrigue’.
Gardiner told Breasted that he had been talking to Gustave Lefebvre, the
distinguished director of studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
in Paris, ‘who takes a most reasonable and fair-minded view.’ 311 Georges
Foucart, Director of the French Institute in Cairo, seems to have offered
no support to Lacau at this time, and he certainly appeared distinctly
hostile to his countryman, as Carter himself observed in the following
winter when he happened to be in the office of the new Prime Minister
Ziwar Pasha, where Foucart was also waiting for an audience. Carter
reported that he ‘conversed freely on Tut.ankh.amen and his (Foucart’s)
feud with Lacau, which struck me at the time as being somewhat inop-
portune.’ Later, when both were with the Prime Minister, ‘We discussed
the Tomb question in Foucart’s presence, Foucart intriguing against

49 Letter of 4 May, G.I. Newberry Corr. 36/78.

50 Letter of 1 7 February in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1 924.

341

HOWARD CARTER

Lacau the whole time.’’ 1 So if there were French intrigues they were not
necessarily aimed at Carter.

On the other side there were those who were not prepared to come
out clearly in support of Carter, even some who might have been
thought of as natural allies. Francis Llewellyn Griffith, who was still the
Editor of the Archaeological Survey of Egypt, under whose auspices
Carter had first come to Egypt in 1891, was in early 1924 directing the
Egypt Exploration Society’s excavations at El-Amarna - the site denied
to Carnarvon and Carter some years before by Lacau. Lythgoe wrote to
enlist Griffith’s support and had, it seems, initially obtained his signature
to an appeal to be made against Lacau. On 21 February Griffith wrote
apologetically, withdrawing his signature:’ 2

We are here [i.e. in El-Amarna] in absolute darkness except for
glimpses in the Egyptian Gazette or a chance reference in a private letter,
as to everything going on outside our work. Under these circumstances it
is improper to join in strife that is very serious but as yet has not touched
us, and for all I know it might be disastrous to the Egypt Exploration
Society which I represent here to join in before knowing the history of
the affair.’

Flinders Petrie wrote in similar terms, but more fully, from Qau in
Middle Egypt on 24 February. He was in considerable sympathy, but
again claimed ignorance of the facts. He was not well disposed to Lacau,
and greatly resented the proposed changes in the antiquities law. Still, to
introduce the Carter case and Tutankhamun into the argument was bad
tactics: ‘It is most desirable to keep all Tut. questions entirely clear of
general antiquity law. ‘Hard cases make bad law’, and gold always
maddens people.’

Both Griffith and Petrie were being prudent, in spite of their sympathy
for Carter. It is also the case that George Reisner, the very successful
American archaeologist, who was excavating for Harvard University and
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in the pyramid field at Giza, was well
satisfied with the treatment of his expedition by the Antiquities Service.
It seems that he claimed to be indebted to Lacau for generous portages,
for the acquisition by Boston of several outstanding pieces of Old-
Kingdom sculpture found in the course of his work at Giza. Reisner had
no respect for Carter as an excavator or as a man; he wrote a letter of

51 Letter of Carter to Molony of 16 January 1925 outlining developments, in G.I. Carter

Papers VI, 1 3A.

52 Griffith’s and Petrie’s letters in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

342

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

unusual savagery in October 1 924 to Mr Hawes, the Assistant Director
of the Museum of Fine Arts, concerning the circumstances surrounding
the Tutankhamun discovery. He had this to say about Carter’s principal
advocates: 5 ’

Last winter, Dr. Gardiner, Mr. Percy Newberry, Prof. Breasted, and
Mr. Lythgoe formed a little coterie of archaeologists who identified
themselves fully with Carter’s work and Carter’s contentions in his
controversy with the Egyptian. Government. ... all of them were
interested to some extent in the matter, and they all, talking together,
worked themselves up into an unnatural frame of mind in which they
saw all things with a distorted vision.

It seems to have been the case that excavators working away from
Thebes had better experiences with the Antiquities Service, and their
reactions to the troubles in the Valley of the Kings were determined
equally by a degree of self-interest. Less well disposed to Carter on other
grounds was Jean Capart. Gardiner had written to him on 7 March, when
events, as will be seen, had taken an even worse turn. 54 He sought the
support both of Capart and of his Queen, who had been so well enter-
tained by Lord Carnarvon and Carter the year before. He readily
admitted, ‘Carter is a difficult man and by no means tactful’, but his work
is good. Lacau, however, ‘has dishonoured himself and dishonoured the
science of which he is here the trustee’; he has harassed Carter in so many
small ways that ‘Carter has been driven into errors of judgement which
we all deplore. But on Lacau falls the guilt of not having defended him
and made his work possible.’ Capart in reply said little about Gardiner’s
charges against Lacau, but wrote at length about his own grievances
against Carter. He had behaved badly over the photographs Capart had
needed; he had never acknowledged Capart’s book of collected articles on
the Tomb; he had, worst of all, failed to be helpful to Mademoiselle
Marcelle Werbrouck who had visited Egypt as an emissary of the

53 I quote from this letter by courtesy of the Department of Egyptian and Ancient Near
Eastern Art in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and am grateful to Dr Rita Freed, the
departmental curator, for her help. Reisner’s view of Lacau’s generosity in partage was
explained to B. V. Bothmer by Dows Dunham who had worked with Reisner in Egypt
in the 1920s.

54 Gardiner’s letter and Capart’s reply in G.I. Carter Papers VI, 13A. I am grateful to
Anne Pemberton for establishing the French text of Capart’s difficult handwriting, and
for providing a translation.

343

HOWARD CARTER

Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth. The Queen had not been
pleased. In short, Capart reckoned that Carter had ‘shown a rare clumsi-
ness and . . . been badly advised; or rather, and I believe this to be more
accurate, that he has chosen not to listen to good advice.’ Towards the
end of his letter he tells Gardiner that he found that the ‘collective letter
to Lacau was somewhat unfortunate, not the fact of having written it, but
to have publicized it immediately in The Times. There was no better way
to inflame again the questions of prestige, those terrible questions of
prestige, and to entrench the parties in their various positions.’ He was in
effect adopting the classic position of sitting on the fence, and would not
help: ‘As for myself I have publicly taken the stance of saying nothing and
sending away all journalists who ask for my comments. By his attitude
towards me, Carter prevented me from acting in any other way.’

There were, no doubt, others like Capart, who could not bring them-
selves to support Carter actively; it is surprising that Capart could not see
that in the context of troubles in Egypt, his own grievances were trivial
and even petty. There remained enough supporters to sustain Carter,
although he was about to lose Mace and even Callender. Mace fell ill
towards the end of February and left Egypt with Winifred and Margaret
on 6 March. The strain of the season, the constant disputes, the need to
keep things going in Luxor while Carter was in Cairo, all contributed to
the steady deterioration in his condition. On the night before the family
left Egypt, Winifred Mace dined with Howard Carter: ‘He was a pathetic
person, and he really felt Arthur’s going so much.’ 55 Carter was indeed
losing his best collaborator and truest supporter. It is difficult to overes-
timate Arthur Mace’s contribution to the first two seasons on the tomb
of Tutankhamun. Apart from his practical skills, his ability to write and
to think clearly, to keep a cool head, and to moderate Carter’s passions,
he helped to set up the systems for conservation and documentation
which were to carry Carter through to the end of the task. Carter saw
him occasionally in subsequent years during his summer visits to
England, but Mace himself was sadly finished. He never returned to
Egypt, and after four years of continual ill-health and the search for a
cure in Switzerland, the Riviera, and the USA, he died in Sussex on 6
April 1928. 56

Arthur Callender left in some discontent shortly after the closure of
the tomb on 13 February. He and Carter had not enjoyed easy relations

55 Letter to her mother of 4 March, written on board ship en route jot Italy.

56 On his last years, see C. Lee, . . . th^ Grand Piano came by Camel, (Renfrew, 1990), pp. 49f.

344

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

for some time. There is no precise evidence for the differences between
the two. Callender was Carter’s principal assistant in matters of practical
engineering, and his constant helper in the tomb itself. It is very probable
that they saw too much of each other on a daily basis, and any problems
would be carried back at night to Carter’s house at Elwat el-Diban, where
Callender apparently lived during the season. Everyone who worked
closely with Carter was from time to time contradicted, obliged to
conform with Carter’s own ideas of how things should be done, made
the target of his contrary temper and unreasonable moods. Walter
Hauser and Lindsley Hall had troubles early on; Burton would complain;
even Carnarvon felt the effects of the claustrophobic conditions in the
tomb within which Carter’s poor humours were nourished. Mace, by
equal professionalism and by self-control and understanding, survived
the difficult times. Callender is thought to have been reasonably phleg-
matic and capable of enduring the regular verbal abuse, but perhaps only
because he alone of the staff was paid from Carnarvon funds. Yet on 25
January Carter had noted in his dig diary, ‘Callender sent in his resigna-
tion, blaming my action towards him.’ This laconic entry is not further
explained, and Callender was certainly still with the team until die tomb
was closed. He was then paid off for the season, prematurely as he seems
to have seen it. Writing from his house at Armant on 19 February, princi-
pally to report the favourable reactions of various non-archaeologists to
Carter’s actions, he comes to the real point: 57

I hate troubling you, and had I only myself to think about, I would not
care, but this Season’s work ending in February, whereas last Season it
ended in May, it is a serious pecuniary loss to me, but I leave it to you.

The problem, as it emerged over a year later, was that he claimed to have
joined the Carnarvon team ‘on the verbal understanding of 7 months
work a year at a monthly salary of £E50 (increased the second season to
£E60), and all found board and lodging etc.’ At the time, in 1924, he
received no satisfactory reply from Carter, and relations were so strained
that when Callender wrote to Newberry in Luxor on 16 March he felt
obliged to state: 58

57 In Department of Egyptian Art, Carter Files, along with other letters about

his claim for loss of earnings, see p. 390 below.

58 G.I. Newberry Corr. 7/7.

345

HOWARD CARTER

I have been thinking over about my coming down to Luxor tomorrow
and have come to the conclusion I had better not, yet I will be sorry at
not being able to wish you all goodbye.

You see, had Carter wished to see me, he would have dropped me a
line, and as he will be about, I would be forced to go to see him, or to
meet him in Luxor or the American house, so I have decided it is
better not.

Things had now got to the point between Carter and the Government
that he could no longer handle matters with any confidence. He was also
constrained by the arrangements he had made to travel to America for
his lecture tour, due to start in New York in mid- April. The row over the
closure of the tomb, and the need to reopen it to secure the sarcophagus
and the personal materials of the staff of the expedition, developed by a
series of acrimonious communications from both sides. 59 On 20
February Morcos Hanna, the minister, had issued a ministerial decree
cancelling Lady Carnarvon’s permit, and instructing Lacau to open the
tomb and other associated stores and the laboratory, and to take urgendy
all necessary measures for the safety and the conservation of the antiqui-
ties found in them. Lacau informed Carter that he would be in Luxor on
22 February and would hope that they could together supervise the
opening of the various tombs. Carter tried to temporize on the grounds
that action should be delayed at least until after his case had come to
court on 23 February. Lacau had Iris orders, and proceeded to carry them
out. In his dossier on tire whole unhappy sequence of events, Carter
quotes as his final entry in the main text the report on what happened,
presented to him by his reis, Ahmed Gerigar [pp. 58f.]:

M. Lacau, Mr. Engelbach, M. Barazie, Chaban Effi, Ibrahim Effi, the
Sheikh of the Antiquity guards, and their smith, arrived in the Valley
accompanied by tire Governor of the Province, the Commandant of
the Police, the Mamour and Molais of Merqis Luxor, and thirty-three
armed police - camel- and horse-mounted and foot. There was also
another Government representative (?) of judicial side. 60 They
proceeded to cut the padlocks on the steel gates of both the tomb and
the laboratory. Entered therein. Made a ‘proces-verbal’ and made

59 Statement, pp. 56ff.

60 A footnote in Statement, p. 59, specifies him as ‘Mohammed Riad Bey, Director of the
Legal Department, P.W.M.’, i.e. Public Works Department.

346

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

certain dispositions within the tomb, using materials belonging to the
expedition both within and without the tomb. The Antiquity officials
ordered me and my three assistants to leave our respective posts. We
were prevented guarding even the photographic laboratory, so we
retired to the magazine, where we were left unhindered. I understand
they are continuing their procedure in the laboratory today.

The action was in part observed by Charles Breasted, who sent next day
a lively account to the Chicago Daily News. He began dramatically: 61

It is well known that King Tutankhamen’s tomb was broken into in
ancient times, but yesterday was the first time that an official breaking
in sponsored and abetted by the Egyptian government, took place.

After outlining the events of the day, he recounts that he called on Carter
in his house:

I found him a sorrow-stricken man, deprived by a strange series of
episodes of completing the greatest archaeological discovery ever
made in the orient.

Minnie Burton noted nothing of these dramatic happenings in her diary,
but she does record the 22 February as Margaret Mace’s eleventh
birthday: ‘Gave her an elephant tail mounted in gold bangle.’

Carter may have been ‘sorrow-stricken’, but he retained a grim
capacity to tight. He began a second law-suit to secure his right to
resume work, and went down in a few days to Cairo so that he could
keep in touch with his lawyer, F. M. Maxwell. The subsequent legal
actions and separate negotiations form a wearisome narrative which at
long distance seems to be characterized by stubbornness, parti pris,
bruised dignity, feelings of revulsion, and plain dislike. The outline of the
legal stages is set out in a long memorandum dated 29th March sent by
Maxwell to R. H. Molony of the Carnarvon Estate solicitors Frere, Chol-
meley and Co. of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, who also did business for Carter in
England. 62 First writs were issued on 21 February and a hearing took
place on the 23rd. After an adjournment an offer of a new concession
was made, and on 29 February Breasted was invited by the Egyptian

61 Copy in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

62 M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

347

HOWARD CARTER

Government to draw up the new terms. Breasted then, with Carter, Mace
and Maxwell, agreed terms which they thought could be discussed with
the Government. At once Carter saw problems and raised difficulties.
Maxwell reported to Breasted on 2 March, 6 ’ ‘Carter is in a very obstinate
mood which has been aggravated by the fact of Mace falling ill. . . .
Nevertheless I think it is important that Zaghlul Pasha should be told . . .
that the action will be stopped if a new concession is granted on condi-
tions approved by a representative of the scientific world such as your-
self.’ Maxwell thought that Carter might gain more from such a move
than by persisting in his case, although Carter seemed to him ‘very
unwilling to take any step at all. In fact he said that he would rather lose
his action than do anything more to accommodate the Government.’
Breasted was inclined to agree with Maxwell’s proposal, and felt that he
might be able to secure some agreement, but not before the renewal of
the court hearing on Saturday 8 March. 64 For on the 6th there was to be a
great governmental visitation of the tomb with celebrations to which
many ministers planned to go, including Morcos Hanna; but not Zaghlul,
who was ill.

Both sides were again trapped by their intransigence. Carter refused to
allow a further adjournment, let alone the dropping of his case; the
Government in return considered, according to Breasted, ‘the continu-
ance of the fight in Court next Saturday as evidence that Carter does not
want a peaceable settlement.’ The fantasiya at the tomb was particularly
worrying to the Carter camp; as Maxwell reported to Molony, there had
been little control, and moreover, further entertainments were planned.
There had been special trains from Cairo, bands and banquets; while
nothing untoward seemed to have occurred on the first occasion, there
was a real chance of damage if the event were to be repeated. Mace in a
letter to Newberry, written on 9 March on board ship for Italy, 65 called it
‘this infernal beanfeast’, and he told of his worries that Breasted might,
in his eagerness to achieve a settlement, ‘give anything away in the inter-
ests of peace, and was quite confident. Carter and I were sceptical
because we had been through the same programme several times already
in the course of the Winter.’ Breasted wanted Carter to postpone the
hearing, but Carter had refused as it ‘seemed to us like throwing away all
your weapons before going into a fight.’ Maxwell had agreed, but

63 In O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1924.

64 Letters of Breasted to Maxwell on 4 and 5 March in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1924.

65 G.I. Newberry Corr. 30/13.

348

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

Breasted ‘was very angry, said that Carter’s action was a deadly blow to
science and that he should tell everyone that it was he (Carter) who had
wrecked the whole thing.’

It did not come to that, fortunately. The hearing went ahead on 8
March, and certain exceptions raised by the Government were discussed;
then a further adjournment. The minister indicated to Breasted that if
Carter signed a renunciation covering the objects from the tomb, he
would offer concessions. With some difficulty Carter was persuaded to
sign the following on 9 March: 66

I hereby declare that I for myself never have made, do not now make,
and never intend to make any claim against the Egyptian Government
or against anyone else to any of the objects found in the Tomb of
Tutankhamen.

Apparently by chance, although in fact at the urgent request of E M.
Maxwell, General Sir John Maxwell, representing the Countess of
Carnarvon, turned up in Cairo at this point, and on her behalf signed a
similar renunciation. The complete accord between both sides, which
Breasted hoped could be achieved on the basis of a draft agreement he
had worked out with the Egyptians, now seemed clinched. It was frus-
trated by one word spoken by F. M. Maxwell in court on the 10th.
Maxwell explained what happened to Molony: 67

In the course of my argument the judge asked why Mr. Carter had
abandoned possession of the tomb before issuing his writ, because he
said it was one thing to confirm a possession by appointing a seques-
trator, and another to transfer it. I was somewhat horrified at the judge
having overlooked so material a part of our case. I therefore said that
Mr. Carter was in possession when he issued his writ but that the
Government had since come like a bandit and forced him out of
possession by violence. Maitre Rosetti protested. The judged [sit\
asked me whether the bandit was necessary to my case. I replied that
any word would suit me which, expressed the violence and illegality of
which I complained. There is no word for bandit in Arabic, and the
native papers used the word for thieves. This annoyed the Ministers
who like to think that they are unusually honest.

66 In Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

67 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

349

HOWARD CARTER

F. M. Maxwell should undoubtedly have appreciated that under the
circumstances, with passions running high and the Egyptian ministers, at
this early stage in constitutional government in the country, particularly
sensitive about their status and dignity, the use of a word like ‘bandit’
could be explosive. It provided the Government with the ideal excuse to
break off all negotiations in the matter of tire new concession.

In an attempt to rescue the situation before it deteriorated beyond
recovery, Breasted decided to write to Morcos Hanna dissociating
himself from the use of tire word. He discussed the form of his letter
with Sir John Maxwell and F. M. Maxwell in the Semiramis Hotel, and in
due course signed the shorter and less strong of two letters. It was abject
in tone, and unnecessarily obsequious; the crucial sentences read: 68

I wish to dissociate myself absolutely from this regrettable utterance
and to express my profound disapproval of such language. I ask your
Excellency to accept my assurance of deepest regret that such an
expression should have furnished the just occasion for the termination
of our negotiations.

He thought that the lawyer Maxwell approved. The opposite was the
case, and Maxwell later objected in the strongest terms that such a letter,
impugning his professional competence, had been allowed to be made
public. 69 In any case, the letter did not mollify Morcos Hanna to whom
Breasted had taken it personally the same night. The Minister was ‘in a
state of intense indignation’, as Breasted wrote to Carter on the following
day. 70 ‘The assurance of the Minister that the negotiations were ended
was final and every effort to bring about a more conciliatory attitude
completely failed.’ Breasted therefore announced the termination of his
mediatorship. In spite of the reservations expressed on his own and on
Carter’s behalf by Mace to Newberry, Breasted had laboured hard and
had come within an ace of success. Whether there was ever a real chance
of a setdement with the Zaghlul administration in power cannot be
claimed with confidence. Carter seemed prepared to be grateful. He had
written to Breasted on 6 March expressing his appreciation; 1 ‘Nobody

68 Dated 11 March. This and other documentation on this episode in O.I. Director’s
Office Corr. 1924.

69 Letter of 17 March to Breasted, see last note.

70 Breasted to Carter on 12 March; copy in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1924.

71 Also in O.I., see last note.

350

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

realises more than I the difficulties you have had to contend with. . . .
Whether successful or otherwise the good intention can never be obliter-
ated.’

Although he thus bowed out formally as mediator in the negotiations
between Carter and the Government, Breasted did not, indeed could
not, wholly disengage from the matter. In the first place the Egyptians
had got used to him and had established a kind of understanding - even
if an uneasy one — with him; second, his inclination obliged him to
continue negotiations, especially as a new official American interest
began to be taken in the affair. Dr J. Morton Howell, the American
Minister in Cairo, now intervened, and he found it appropriate to work
with Breasted. There is good evidence that this development was due to
Breasted himself. He had earlier written to Dr George E. Hale, a most
distinguished American astronomer who had organized, and was until
1923 the first director of, the Mt Wilson Observatory. He was a good
friend of Breasted who had hoped that he would get him to Egypt
during the time of the momentous discovery. In 1 924 he was Director of
the National Research Council, and had been sent a copy of the letter to
Lacau signed by Breasted, Gardiner and the others. 72 Direct intervention
on the official level was ruled out by the State Department in Wash-
ington because Carter was British, and the relevance of the dispute to
American interests had to be argued. A communication on the same
subject from Edward Robinson, pointing out the damage that could be
done to the interests of the Metropolitan Museum by the proposed
changes in excavation permits, and further arguments from Hale led, as
Breasted reported, to ‘instructions from Washington to bring personal
and informal pressure on the Egyptian Government.’

Breasted was in something of a quandary. He had resigned as medi-
ator, he would shortly be leaving Egypt; yet it was he who had apparently
stimulated Washington to act, and Howell naturally turned to him for
background information and specialist support. Then, on 21 March,
Breasted wrote to Howell informing him that he had just heard that
Carter, at the moment of leaving Egypt, had on the previous day
appointed H. E. Winlock ‘as his agent in the matter of the tomb, with
power of attorney.’ He felt obliged therefore to end his involvement: ‘the
new information of Mr. Winlock’s appointment, makes it impossible for

72 The Hale to Breasted correspondence is in O.I. Breasted Papers; especially Hale to
Breasted of 23 February 1924, and Breasted to Hale of 22 March 1924.

351

HOWARD CARTER

me to reenter the case.’ 73 That, however, was not to be the end of the
matter as far as Breasted was concerned.

In the meanwhile, since the breakdown of the negotiations and
Breasted’s letter of withdrawal on 12 March, Carter had returned to
Luxor to consider his position and to make arrangements for some kind
of supervision of the closing of the tomb. He would leave Egypt on 21
March. Recently he had not taken much part in the negotiations with the
Egyptian government after the closure of the tomb, but had left matters
in the hands of Breasted and F. M. Maxwell, intervening only to exercise
his stubbornness and to object to concessions. After Breasted it would
be Winlock, but his involvement would not seriously begin until after
Carter had left Egypt. The report that during this period Carter went to
see Allenby and threatened to publish papyrus texts from the tomb
giving the Egyptian side of the events surrounding the departure of the
Jews from Egypt in antiquity represents an unjustifiable interpretation of
an implausible story said to have been told to Mr Lee Keedick by Carter
himself during his lecture tour in America. The report, included in Mr
Keedick’s notes on Carter, is quite unspecific as to place, time and even
the person involved. There is no independent witness for the event, and
it may best be treated as apocryphal. 74

Minnie Burton charts some of Carter’s movements in Luxor in the
days before his departure. On 7 March he came to dinner at the Metro-
politan House — the last time for the season. On the 18th she records:
‘Mr. Carter came to say goodbye and brought me his canary.’ This canary
presents a problem. It may be remembered that when he came to Luxor
on November 1922 he brought a ‘golden bird’ to keep him company. 7 " 1
This canary did not last long. Winlock recorded how, when Carter was up
in Cairo collecting Carnarvon, Callender found a cobra in the cage ‘just
in the act of gulping the canary down, halo and all.’ It was a strange story,
for it is hard to imagine how a cobra could have got through the bars of
the cage. If they were so spaced that the snake could get in, surely the
canary could have got out. At the time the good omens, assigned initially
to the bird, were transformed into forebodings. It is surprising therefore
to find that Carter had later replaced the bird with another. And here it
was being placed in the hands of Minnie Burton, who was not very well

73 The Breasted to Howell correspondence also in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1924.

74 See Hoving, Tutankhamun. The Untold Story , p. 310. His interpretation of the Keedick

account goes far beyond the facts as recorded by Keedick, and is too specific.

75 See p. 251 above.

352

THE SPIRIT OF MISCHIEF

disposed to Carter. She was, however, just an intermediary, and eventu-
ally on 1 6 April, the day before the Burtons’ own departure, she took the
bird across to Luxor and put it in the charge of Mr Parissis, the bank
manager. She also notes in her entry for 19 March that she took various
friends and Frances Winlock to the Valley of the Kings, ‘and got Mr.
Engelbach to let them into the Tomb.’ She would scarcely have dared to
do that if Carter had been in Luxor. And one wonders what Harry
Burton thought about it. He may not have been told.

When Carter left Luxor he had much to worry him; the future of his
work in Egypt was in grave doubt; he would not be returning to England
to a hero’s welcome; he had the uncertainties of his first lecture tour in
the unknown lands of North America before him. Would he ever return
to complete the tomb? He still had his house at Elwat el-Diban to come
back to, whether he would work or not. So life on one level, if not on
another, would continue. So, on his last day he methodically checked his
stores and noted the results in his diary. The list is very much that of an
expatriate Englishman wishing to maintain a certain style of life in
foreign parts. Much was in tins: marmalade, strawberry, apricot and
blackcurrant jam; mock turtle, gravy and julienne soups; tinned pine-
apple, peaches, fruit salad, figs and pears. There were tins of sardines, of
tongues and sausages; quantities of Brand’s Essence, beef and chicken,
about which Winifred Mace had remarked, At times Mr. Carter seems to
live on it’; 76 and pate de foie gras. There was a great deal of sugar and,
more prosaically, candles, Yardley’s soap, Sunlight soap, Scrubbs
ammonia, and 6 packets of Bromo toilet paper. He had laid in plenty of
biscuits — 12 three-pound tins of water biscuits, 5 similar tins of Marie
biscuits, and 6 tins of cheese-assorted biscuits. There were botdes of
vinegar and tins of oil. Also a small, limited cellar: 12 bottles of Fortnum
and Masons 10-year-old brandy, 2 bottles of Sandemans 50-year-old
brandy, 18 bottles of Fortnum and Masons 10-year-old whisky, 12 bottles
of Gordon’s gin and 3 bottles of creme-de-menthe. He would be able to
survive for a time, if he were to return. He took ship from Alexandria to
Venice on 21 March, and arrived at Victoria Station, London, on the
25th.

76 Letter in January 1924.

353

AMERICA AND IMPROVING
PROSPECTS

The approach of his lecture tour in North America offered Howard
Carter at least a change of scene, and the possibility of some relief from
the burden of negotiations with the Antiquities Service and the Egyptian
Minister of Public Works. Unfortunately, soon after his return to
England his prickly antennae picked up information about a quite sepa-
rate and potentially vexing matter which seemed to merit rapid attention.
The great national event of 1924 was the British Empire Exhibition, a
celebration of the peoples of the Empire and their achievements. It was
to be opened by King George V and Queen Mary on 23 April in an
impressive ceremony at the exhibition site at Wembley in north-west
London. In the extensive exhibition grounds, apart from the grandiose
pavilions of the dominions and colonies, lay the Amusement Park within
which, close to the Safety Racer, the Wheel of the World, and Flying
Machines, was the Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen, entry price 1 /3 (one shil-
ling and threepence). Excavated in the sand of Wembley, and contained
within a long white building purporting to represent the cliffs of the
Valley of the Kings, the chambers were filled with replicas of objects
found in the tomb - the great gilded beds, the thrones, a chariot, the
king’s mannequin, the guardian figures of the king, stools and boxes and
the gilded shrines and the sarcophagus of die Burial Chamber. 1

A particularly disagreeable feature of this ‘side-show’ was the fact that
Messrs William Aumonier and Son, the firm responsible for the replicas,
had been advised by Arthur Weigall. His welcome absence from Thebes

1 I am grateful to the staff of the Grange Museum of Community History, Neasden,
London N.10, and especially the Curator, Mr Finbarr Whooley, for their help and for
providing access to a copy of the Official Guide to the exhibition from the collections
of the Wembley Historical Society housed in the Museum. See also, Donald R. Knight
and Alan D. Sobey, The Tion roars at Wembley (London, 1984), passim.

354

AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

during the preceding winter had been put down, no doubt rightly, to the
reluctance of the Daily Mail to employ him as their correspondent after
his behaviour in the previous season. 2 He had certainly not been idle in
the meanwhile, and much of what he had been doing was irksome for
Carter. Weigall, as a free-lance author, had to make a living as best he
could, by writing, by journalism, by lecturing, and in recent months by
providing Aumonier and the contractors for the construction of the
tomb with detailed information on the form and contents of the tomb.
Carter did not see the Wembley show until after his visit to America, but
he did what he could in advance of his departure, and before the opening
of the exhibition, to scotch the enterprise. He therefore instructed his
solicitors to issue a writ against the Directors of the British Empire Exhi-
bition. His objection was that the making and showing of replicas repre-
sented a violation of copyrights. He assumed that the work had been
carried out using photographs, and possibly other materials, which were
the property of the Carnarvon-Carter expedition. The writ was issued on
2 1 April, and reported in the Daily Express on the following day as ‘Mr.
Carter’s Wembley Bombshell’. The newspaper report included a denial
by Aumonier and Weigall that Carter photographs had been used; they
claimed that they had worked from photographs taken in Egypt by many
different people. In the event, die writ was withdrawn after the exhibi-
tion organizers were able to satisfy Carter’s solicitors that their claim was
valid. One may wonder whether Carter would have given up so easily if
he had been in the country.

The Wembley replica tomb was much visited, and was said to be very
like the real tomb. Photographs of the wood and plaster copies of the
objects suggest that they were no more than approximate representa-
tions of the originals, some being much better than others. Nevertheless,
a great deal of care had been taken to ensure that, from the front at least,
a fair idea of the originals could be obtained. It was claimed that almost

000-worth of gold was used to embellish the shrines, and that ‘the
smallest hieroglyphs were reproduced so faithfully that they could be
read by Egyptologists.’ The little folder prepared for the visitors
describes the tomb replica and its contents as if the actual objects were
on display in Wembley: 3 ‘From the entrance, down 16 steps, a passage
leads to the first of three chambers, only two of which have so far been

2 So according to Winifred Mace in her letter to her mother of 17 March 1924.

3 A copy of this folder is in the collection of the Wembley Historical Society in the

Grange Museum.

355

HOWARD CARTER

opened . . . One page of description is accompanied by two pages
containing a poem of 125 lines, ‘The Seeker’ by C. E. Briggs. It scarcely
merits reprinting, but one stanza may convey the flavour of the whole:

From the wings of evening a gentle wind did blow,

Harbinger of death, for the King was stricken low,

And as Ra descended behind a bank of cloud,

Ominous, forbidding, as though it were a shroud,

Journeyed had the King to a land he did not know.

It is unlikely that Carter himself knew much about what was planned for
Wembley, but he quite understandably felt that a gross liberty was being
taken with his discovery. The law may not have been broken, but propri-
eties had been neglected. He may also have suspected that Aumonier
would not go out of his way to deny that the show was organized with
the knowledge and permission of Carter and the Carnarvon estate.
There is nothing to suggest that at the time such a claim was made;
Weigall was always credited with the specialized advice. But memories
and impressions are liable to imprecision. A report in the Eastern Daily
Press of Norwich on 6 May 1969 describes a figure of the Egyptian
goddess Sakhmet still to be seen at that time in the offices of Crotch and
Son in Norwich. This firm, it was claimed, had carried out the excavation
and building of the Wembley replica, and the Sakhmet statue ‘with
certainty . . . emanated from the Wembley 1924 Exhibition . . . and is a
replica of the actual statue that was placed in the tomb of the weak and
vacillating teenage ruler 3300 years ago.’ That there was no Sakhmet
statue in the tomb is just one misconception in the report. Another is the
claim that Carnarvon and Carter ‘were invited to erect and furnish a
replica of the Luxor tomb and Crotch received the contract.’ Howard
Carter would not have appreciated the long survival of such a myth in his
own Norfolk heartland.

The Wembley problem could be left in the hands of his solicitors. He
himself had a different adventure before him, and on 12 April he had left
Southampton on the SS Berengaria for New York. 4 He was accompanied
on the voyage by the Lythgoes and Edward Harkness and also, according
to the report in the New York Times, by Percy White, described as ‘an
authority on Egypt and a professor of history in the Egyptian university

4 Carter’s movements in America are briefly noted in his Pocket Diary for 1924 in the
G.I. Carter Papers.

356

AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

in Cairo, who will also lecture on Tut-ankh-Amen.’ Carter makes no
mention of White in his brief diary notes of the American tour, and it is
probable that he did not keep Carter company throughout the tour.
Minnie Burton mentions White’s presence at a showing of Harry
Burton’s ‘movies’ in New York on 10 June, when Carter himself was in
Canada. Although Carter would stand up to the stresses of the tour with
remarkable resilience, he might have appreciated having Percy White to
talk to in the few times of relaxation from the inexorable travel, public
speaking and socializing. His sole companion seems to have been Mr Lee
Keedick of the Keedick Lecture Bureau, who, as will be seen, had his
hands full managing his lucrative client’s movements and appearances.”
Howard Carter had received much advice from Breasted about the
business of lecturing in the United States, but he may not have been
properly warned of the probable interest of the public and the newspa-
pers. About the latter he knew something (and that not especially good)
from his recent experiences in Egypt. In America he would be met at
every point by eager news-hounds requiring interviews and statements,
and as the tour progressed he would witness the extravagance of public
enthusiasm and the inaccuracies of the published reports. The account of
his first interview, published in the New York Times on 1 9 April, runs to
about 50 column inches (128cm), and ranges widely over his discovery,
his life and career, his views on a broad range of Egyptological matters,
especially those concerning Tutankhamun. The report scarcely warrants
close scrutiny. The inaccuracies — which are many — may be due to his own
lack of precision, to bad reporting, or to the invention of the interviewer.
The most engaging prediction Carter is claimed to have made concerned
the probable discovery of ‘literary relics’ in the burial of Tutankhamun:

there was a chance, he said, of finding ‘a novel of travel’ which some
literary man of the time had written to entertain Tut-ankh-Amen on
his pilgrimage through the lower world.

He also hoped that in the future:

He could undertake the expedition into Somaliland and Abyssinia where
he will seek corroboration of his theory that civilization originated there
and traveled down the Nile to Egypt and east to Mesopotamia.

5 Notes on the Carter tour have been made available to me by Mr Robert Keedick, son
of Mr Lee Keedick.

357

HOWARD CARTER

For the first time he denied that he was American - ‘a widespread
mistaken belief’; he would have to do so frequendy in the coming weeks.
He also paid generous tribute to the help and support he had received
from the Metropolitan Museum.

In spite of its length, this first newspaper interview in America was
surprisingly free from the weaknesses that are commonly found when
enthusiasm unbalances the natural scepticism of the hardened journalist.
It did not, apparently, raise Carter’s hackles, and Ludlow Bull could write
to Breasted after its appearance 6 that Carter ‘seemed in good health and
spirits’ and, specifically on the interview, ‘I see that he referred to you as
the greatest historian of Egypt. I was glad to see that.’

If anything could have restored Carter’s self-confidence and removed
some of the shadows persisting from the unhappy events in Luxor, it was
surely the reception he received in New York. It is known that he was
more than adequately lionized, but the full list of his engagements is not
recorded in his diary. There he notes in the briefest form his moves, his
lectures, and very occasional meetings, with only an incidental remark in
addition. His official lecture schedule was punishing. He had two subjects
in Inis portfolio, the first being the background to the discovery and the
discovery itself, the second being die discoveries of the recent season. His
first two talks in New York were arranged specially for invited audiences
in the Metropolitan Museum — ‘bread-and-butter’ talks, given in gratitude
for all that the Museum had done. Lindsley Hall who attended the first
(on 21 April) reported: ‘This eve he talked informally at the Museum and
I heard him. Slides and movies good, but he is hard to understand.’ A
nervous performance at the very least might have been expected for this
initiatory dip into the waters of the American lecture circuit. Hall’s
comment was to be made by others at this early stage; his diction, said in
later life to have been precise, clipped and sub-Upper Class, did not
impress all his listeners. His serious public series began on, 23 April with
an afternoon lecture in Carnegie Hall; he was introduced by Edward
Robinson, Director of the Metropolitan Museum, and there were 2500
people in the audience. The New York Times reported this and his second
lecture in the same hall (on 25 April in the evening) with good, but wholly
uncritical, accounts. 7 He spoke in Carnegie Hall four times before the end
of April, and supplemented these appearances with one lecture in the
Natural History Museum and two in die Brooklyn Academy of Music.

6 Letter of 21 April in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1924.

7 New York Times for 24 April 1924, p. 21, and for 26 April, p. 18.

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AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

His tour away from New York began with visits to Philadelphia, New
Haven (for Yale), Washington and Baltimore. On 8 May he was invited to
meet the US President, Mr Calvin Coolidge, in the White House. Noting
this private audience on the next day, the New York Times reported that
Carter ‘was both amazed and flattered by the President’s familiarity with
his work in Egypt and that he was greatly pleased with Mr. Coolidge’s
commendation of the work.’ There was so much interest in the White
House that Carter was invited back to give a private talk to Mr and Mrs
Coolidge and guests on the next day. Carter puts it down as having
happened in his diary, but in fact the Coolidges had not been there. On
the following day Mrs Coolidge’s secretary wrote to him apologizing for
their absence, because ‘of the great sorrow that had come so suddenly to
a member of their official family.’ 8

New England came next: first to Boston on 10 May. A side-trip to
Worcester, Massachusetts, was followed by two lectures in the Boston
Opera House, and then one in Hartford, Connecticut. The pace quick-
ened somewhat. He left Hartford on 18 May for Pittsburgh, arrived at
9.30 on the morning of tire 19th, lectured at 8.30 in the evening and took
the train for Chicago at midnight. After New York, Chicago was his
most important place of engagement, for here waited James Henry
Breasted, eager to see how his reluctant lecture pupil would perform, and
avid to exploit the occasion for his own purposes. He had persuaded
Carter to give a private lecture for the University of Chicago, and had
hope that it might be in a large hall, enabling the University to invite
many friends and benefactors. Breasted left it rather late to fix the
arrangements with Lee Keedick, and a night letter requesting ‘Besides
faculty and students would you be willing to have us invite a small list of
prominent people like trustees and special friends of the University’
received the brief reply, ‘Please limit invitations to trustees.’ 9 Carter was
to give two lectures in Orchestra Hall, and his agent naturally did not
want to have large numbers of possible ticket-buyers siphoned off to the
free presentation at the University.

In other respects Breasted was very solicitous on Carter’s behalf, and
went out of his way to give him helpful advice, and to commiserate with
him on the strains of social engagements and the importunities of the
Press. His letter of 13 May alerted Carter to what was in store for him: 111

8 Letter in the possession of Jonathan Carter.

9 Both letters in the O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1924.

10 Copy in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1924.

359

HOWARD CARTER

Mrs. Rockefeller McCormick ... is anxious to give you a tea and a
reception. I can quite understand that you are ‘fed up’ with this kind of
thing. We should be delighted to show you all kinds of hospitality at
the University but I know how tired you must be, and I do not want to
overload you with such social responsibilities before you arrive.

Still, perhaps a luncheon could be arranged. Breasted then took a swipe
at the Press:

I have been very much vexed with the absurd things the newspapers
have reported me as saying, especially that I brought back a bed from
the tomb of Tutenkhamon. Of course I never said anything of the
kind. The bed in question is the one you probably saw in the hands of
Mohammed Mohasseb, which anyone would recognize at once as
enormously older than anything in the tomb. I suppose you are getting
very ‘fed up’ with the absurdities of the American Press. It is one of
the things we Americans deplore, but cannot alter.

In the event things went well in Chicago, and Carter passed the
Breasted test with flying colours. After four days of busy activity he left
the city on the midnight train for Cincinnati on the next stage of his
circuit in the USA, before an excursion into Canada. Breasted waited
until 3 June, ten days later, before writing his letter of thanks: 11

I have heard the most gratifying expressions of appreciation on all
hands, which I am sure, if you could hear them, would afford you
pleasure. I have been asked also by the President to assure you of our
sense of indebtedness, and our conviction of the great value of the
service you have rendered. The leading men of the University have
spoken to me about it as of the greatest value in tire further develop-
ment of our subject both in this University and throughout America.

That the thanks conveyed in this letter were not just those of the conven-
tional letter of appreciation is confirmed by what Breasted had to say to
Alan Gardiner a few days later: 12

1 1 Copy as last.

12 G.I. Gardiner Corn AHG/ 42.37.13 of 12 June 1924.

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AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

Carter has recently left us having lectured in the city twice to crowded
houses, and a third time at the University exclusively to invited guests -
a donation on his part which was greatly appreciated. I must say his
lecture did him credit. He had dropped the note of high tragedy to
which you referred in commenting on his London lecture. He talked
evenly and familiarly and in a pleasing vein. I have heard numerous
appreciative comments. I think the universal kindness which had been
shown him in America has contributed to soothe his ruffled spirits
and sweeten up many bitter memories.

The final comments here may represent a total misjudgement of Carter’s
true state of mind at this point in the American tour. News from Egypt,
which will shortly be considered, could scarcely have contributed
towards a general equanimity. But Carter was, by his solitary nature,
adept, it seems, at controlling his inner feelings when circumstances did
not lead to a public outburst of temper. Yet Breasted was surely right in
claiming that the treatment Carter was receiving in America was thera-
peutic to some extent. How could he have failed to respond positively to
such generous hospitality’

Breasted’s ‘thank-you’ letter also contained a suggestion for the
investing of the substantial sums of money that Carter could expect to
collect from his tour:

Don’t take your financial returns from this lecture tour to England and
put it into pounds sterling, which are bound to come down every time
the British Government makes an interest payment to the United
States. Do take your balance to some well known investment banker in
New York and buy public service securities of some kind on which
you can get from five to six percent interest — very much better I am
confident than you can do at home.

I might mention that Petrie followed the above suggested policy
with the £8000 which he received for the Ulahun Jewelry. Forgive me
for ‘butting in’ on another man’s private business, but I am sure you
will understand that it is kindly meant.

Breasted, it seems, always knew best; but there is no evidence that Carter
followed his advice in this matter. Indeed, had he done so, he might well
have regretted his decision when the American market collapsed in 1929.
In money matters Carter always behaved prudently, and on this occasion

361

HOWARD CARTER

he may, after his return to Great Britain, have taken steps which secured
for him a reasonably stable financial future. His diary for 9 July notes
‘Saw Victor Walker re. annuity’; and under 14 July he wrote ‘For 1000 per
annum pay 13394 .1.1 = 9%’. It is known that at least by 1928 he
received an annuity of £1000 from the Standard Life Assurance Co., in
half-yearly instalments of £500. A letter written to him by his solicitor J.
R. Molony in 1932, answering an enquiry Carter had made (possibly on
behalf of Axel Munthe), stated that Sun of Canada would require some-
thing over £11000 to secure £1000 a year, and the Norwich Union would
be about £500 more. 13 These figures do suggest that he considered the
possibility of an annuity of £1000 per annum immediately after his
return from his American trip, and may well have purchased one at that
time. It would have been an eminendy sensible way of using a large sum
of money without exposing it to the hazards of the stock market.

The time-table of the lecture tour, as arranged by Mr Lee Keedick,
contained bursts of flurried movement and activity, followed by short
periods when some peace might be found. Chicago had been a point for
a little rest, and the next would be Cleveland, Ohio, where Carter would
find people in the Museum of Art with whom he had corresponded over
purchases of antiquities since 1917. Strangely, the Museum has no record
of a visit by Carter at this time, or of any entertainment connected with
his visit; the brief entries in Carter’s diary mention only the Masonic Hall
where he lectured on 2 and 3 June. The two preceding days were possibly
spent visiting the Museum, and in recuperating from the marathon
progress since Chicago: 24 May, midnight train to Cincinnati; 25 May,
arrive Cincinnati 9.20 a.m.; 26 May, lecture 8.30 p.m., leave for Detroit,
11.15 p.m.; 27 May, arrive Detroit 7.30 a.m.; 28 May, saw Henry Ford
a.m., lecture 8.30 p.m.; 29 May, still in Detroit, lecture 8.30 p.m.; 30 May,
to Cleveland. And so it would continue after Cleveland, with visits to
Columbus, Ohio, and Buffalo.

On 7 June Carter reached Toronto and for the next 9 days he
remained in Canada, giving lectures in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. In
Toronto his point of contact was C. T. Currelly, Director of the Royal
Ontario Museum, who had been an active archaeologist; he had worked
in Egypt with Naville at Deir el-Bahri in the days when Carter was in his
period of ‘retirement’ after the unfortunate events of 1905. To all
outward appearances Carter was now a man enjoying the success he had
earned by his discoveries, and he could occasionally write of his apparent

13 Letters on the annuity enquiries are in the possession of Jonathan Carter.

362

AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

satisfaction. From Chicago he had written to Winlock in New York,
thanking him for all that he had done on his behalf in Egypt; he added: 14

I had a delightful time with your family at Boston and regretted that I
had to quit so soon — the machinations of Reisner and Co there were
most amusing — I think they have made asses of themselves. . . .

This lecturing tour is strenuous work but am enjoying seeing the
country and kind people.

Winlock had indeed earned Carter’s gratitude. The weeks he had spent
in Egypt acting as Carter’s proxy had not been easy, and had included in
the early stages an event that had promised to develop into a major crisis.
At the beginning of April the committee appointed by the Egyptian
government to review matters in the Valley set about listing the material
in the various tombs in the Valley used by Carter. In tomb no. 4, that of
King Ramesses XI, they found a Fortnum and Mason box containing a
wooden head, plastered and painted, of a young boy, emerging from a
lotus flower - an exceptionally fine and sensitive sculpture. The suspi-
cions of the Egyptian members of the commission were aroused, and
Winlock cabled Carter on 2 April: 15

send all information you can relating to origin STOP Advise us by
letter if any inquiry is made we shall be prepared STOP Made a bad
impression on Egyptian members it was announced by telegram to
Zaghlul immediately and sent by express Cairo STOP Lacau and
Engelbach have suggested to them you have bought for account of
Earl last year from Amarna do not know whether they believe that
actually.

On the following day, Winlock again cabled:

Edgar Engelbach called today and have suggested Carter confirm
purchase of head thus can give great assistance to Lacau who has great
confidence in him and desires if possible to prevent an attempt made

14 Letter of 24 May in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

15 Cables and letters on this head are reprinted in the last appendix to The Tomb of
Tut.ank.Amen. Statement with Documents as to the Events which occurred in Egypt in the Winter
of 1923—24, leading to the ultimate breach with the Egyptian Government (London, 1924, ‘for
private circulation only’). Carter’s letter of 7 April is in M.M.A., Department of Egyp-
tian Art, Carter files.

363

HOWARD CARTER

by press to misrepresent Carter STOP. . . . Have been informed by
servant voluntarily he made a mistake in storing empties. Code very
difficult.

The last remark presumably refers to the problem of conveying adequate
messages when a form of code, used for confidential cables by members
of the Metropolitan Museum staff, was employed. Carter replied by cable
from London on 3 April:

The piece mentioned belongs like all other pieces belonging tomb in
number four to material found in filling of passage STOP They are
noted on plan in group numbers but not yet fully registered in index
STOP

Quoting all three cables, Carter wrote a more detailed account of the
circumstances of the finding of the head in a letter to Winlock on 7
April, pointing out how he had used tomb no. 4 as ‘the only magazine
for the safe keeping of antiquities I had up to that stage’, and that before
the opening of the Antechamber ‘all objects pertaining to the excavation’
were stored in that tomb. He was very annoyed at the action taken by the
commission:

This actual piece in question, the most important object found at that
stage of the work, was discovered in a very perishable condition, and it
took Mr. Callender and myself some little time to salvage it as well as
fallen fragments of its painted decoration from the rubble and dust.
It was carefully packed and immediately stored in tomb No. 4, with
the fragments belonging to it in a separate parcel, and left there ‘till the
opportunity came for its correct handling.

I am at a loss to understand such a procedure on the part of the
Department as sending it ‘by express Cairo’ before it had received
the proper treatment for transport, and I must sincerely trust that the
fragments salvaged by us have received proper care. It would be
deplorable if this wonderful and unique portrait head of the young
king has suffered damage through such extraordinary action.

In the meanwhile Winlock had written to Carter from Cairo to say that
Lacau was ‘perfecdy delighted’ with the explanation in Carter’s cable. 16

1 6 Letter of 5 April in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

364

AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

To Winlock the incident seemed closed. And so indeed it remained, until
in recent years, unfortunately, it has been seized on and given promi-
nence as if to prove that Carter had been concealing the piece for later
improper removal. 17 It is indeed strange that the head had been appar-
endy overlooked, even temporarily forgotten, in its box in tomb no. 4,
and it is noticeable that, in spite of its artistic and historical value, it was
not mentioned in the first volume of The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , 18 Still it
is perhaps not surprising that a piece, even one of outstanding impor-
tance, might have remained neglected, when every day brought new
wonders of discovery in the tomb. Furthermore, if Carter had intended
to remove it surreptitiously, he could have done so on many occasions
between November 1922 and February 1924. It is not known what
happened to the head and the fragments immediately after they were
sent to Cairo; but an inspection of the piece today shows that many
pieces of gesso-plaster are missing. Carter’s comments on the dangers
implicit in its premature removal before conservation had been carried
out were only too pertinent.

Winlock did not find that progress in solving the problems of
Tutankhamun’s tomb had greatly improved with Carter away from
Egypt. The legacy of Breasted’s vacillation and the inefficiency of
Morton Howell, the American Minister, offered serious impediments to
progress. On the very day when he could write encouragingly to Carter
about the wooden head, he sent an exasperated letter to Lythgoe about
Howell and the irresponsible behaviour of the newspaper-man Brad-
street. 19 The latter had written an article criticising Howell as being too
much on Carter’s side, and laying himself open to insults from the Egyp-
tians. Although Howell was grossly misrepresented (ineffective though
he might have been), he incurred an unjustified reprimand from the State
Department. The position therefore remained unpromising:

The way things look to me Lacau’s reforms stand an excellent chance

of going through before next season. You can put no dependence on

what they told Howell - any more than in this Tut affair.

On Tutankhamun matters Winlock was rather more positive in writing to
Carter. He continued his Carter letter of 5 April with a comment that

17 See T. Hoving, Tutankhamun. The Untold Story (New York, 1978), p. 318.

18 It is illustrated as Plate 1 in volume III.

19 Letter in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

365

HOWARD CARTER

everyone in the Antiquities Service wanted Carter back, even though he
would have only two rights: to take the blame if anything goes wrong,
and to pay the bills. For the moment he recommends Carter to accept
any offered concession, at least formally:

A blank refusal now would add fuel to the fire. If we just quietly pass
the word to Howell and let him pass it to the government and it only
comes out publicly much later, it will not cause so much excitement.
You can say later ‘Oh yes there was something offered but it was not
workable’.

Winlock could now perhaps see some possibility of setdement,
although the Carter affair might be more susceptible of a favourable
outcome than the business of general archaeological concessions in
Egypt. He wrote regularly to Carter during the weeks when he acted on
his behalf. He was undoubtedly more pragmatic in terms of field practi-
calities than Breasted had been, and he was now helped by a new lawyer,
Georges Merzbach, who was in the process of taking over from F. M.
Maxwell on the latter’s retirement to England. Merzbach, unencumbered
by the memory of the Morcos Hanna treason trial, and very accustomed
to dealing with local issues in the Egyptian courts, was equally free from
the set positions that had developed in Carter’s case since January. He
was all on the side of negotiation rather than litigation, and although
Carter feared at first that he might be ‘double ’ 20 - possibly meaning ‘two-
faced’ - he would prove to be a sterling guide and support in future
negotiations. So useful did he become that he continued to act for Carter
in later years in matters in contention in the Egyptian courts. At the
present early stage it was Merzbach who could detect in Lacau a distinct
willingness to be ‘friendly and liberal ’. 21

After Winlock had returned to New York in mid-May, he wrote a
long letter bringing Carter up to date with recent developments . 22
There had been much discussion over new possible wordings of an
agreement for the reopening of work on the Tomb of Tutankhamun;
there were to be some concessions. Unfortunately the Carnarvon side
now dug in its heels, and General Sir John Maxwell particularly

20 In a letter of 24 May to H. E. Winlock in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter
files.

21 Letter of 10 April in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

22 Letter of 22 May in M.M.A., as last.

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AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

showed his opposition, suggesting to Merzbach that the renunciation
of claims for objects from the discovery should be withdrawn.
‘Carter’, he said, ‘may have been not far wrong.’ Something had to be
done to placate Sir John, but Winlock and Merzbach were convinced
that they should persist with the modified agreement they had
prepared. Winlock saw Lacau on 25 April and found three ‘amusing
points’ in the interview. First, Morcos Hanna had shown Lacau
Carter’s letter disclaiming the use of the word ‘bandits’, and they
agreed it was satisfactory. Morcos then, subsequently and without
Lacau’s knowledge, demanded changes in the text; Lacau regarded the
changes as ‘merely pretexts’. Second, Lacau strongly opposed the
suggestion that five Egyptian students should be attached to Carter’s
work; he claimed to have discovered that they would be spies. Third,
Lacau thought Sir John Maxwell a reasonable man. When he learned
from Winlock that Sir John was now opposed to renunciation, Lacau
called the whole affair tragic.

Lacau and Winlock agreed that Carter need not offer a disavowal of
the use of ‘bandits’, and that he should not write a letter promising to be
good. Winlock claimed that he told Lacau ‘I would gladly murder you, if
you weren’t good, but that was as far as I would agree to go’. He and
Merzbach pressed the negotiations fitfully forward. The end of the
month of April was fixed for his return to New York, but it became clear
that no end could be brought to the matter before further discussions
with the Carnarvon side took place. Winlock was, as he reported, able to
have ‘one last fling’ at Lacau. He told him that he sincerely believed that
Lacau had the best interests of archaeology at heart, but was dominated
by the Egyptian politicians:

Likewise on the question of concessions in general I find you hold the
sincerest desire for the continuation of archaeological work in Egypt
but that you think it necessary to give way on every side to the desires
of Egyptian politicians for the sake of peace.

Lacau replied that he thought Winlock’s summing up was rather naive; all
he wanted to do was to avoid further conflict.

At the end of his long letter of 22 May, and on the point of bowing
out of his office of Carter-proxy, Winlock urges a willingness to be
conciliatory and to accept Lacau’s apparent eagerness to have him back.
But:

367

HOWARD CARTER

There is no use mincing words or trying to fool ourselves. In Cairo
you have the reputation of being difficult. Some of this goes back to
the old days and a long series of incidents in which you have not been
sparing of the knocks.

So he concludes,

In short I believe you stand about as follows:

1 They want you and your collaborators back.

2 They will give a concession which is after all workable.

3 You must get the Carnarvons’ renunciation.

4 You must convince them that they are totally wrong in their childish
idea that you like to quarrel for the fun of insulting the Egyptian
nation.

Finally, he offers to return his power of attorney,

Otherwise I shall keep it as a souvenir of a very strenuous six weeks
with Tutankhamon. You may be sure, however, that I have no desire
ever to use it or to hear of the old fellow again.

Winlock could not so easily let himself off the hook, for Carter was
still in America, weighed down with guilt at the burdens he had laid on
his friends, and as ever finding it difficult to bend. A few days after
receiving Winlock’s letter, Carter had one from Lythgoe with unsatisfac-
tory news about the terms of future concessions likely to be offered to
institutions like the Metropolitan Museum. 2 ’ Carter clearly felt that he
was in large part responsible for what was happening. He was in Detroit,
obliged to perform almost daily to adulatory audiences, he had nobody
to talk to who understood the circumstances. He had to be guarded in
his statements to the newspapers. How miserable he must have been!
And so he wrote in return: 24

Thank you indeed for yours of May 26th — All the news therein is very
sorrowful, in fact, too sad for contemplation. The more so as I have
been for some unfortunate reason an upsetting element in the general
cause - It was but an endeavour to carry out a duty.

23 Letter of 26 May in M.M.A., as last.

24 Letter of 30 May in M.M.A., as last.

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AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

I cannot agree to any action on my part that would in any way prej-
udice the rights of others. I shall therefore retire - renouncing any claim
whatsoever to the Tut.ankh.Amen discovery, and also from future
archaeological research — with a broken heart to End after many years
work that all our alleged faults are dashed upon the scales without one
possible good deed used to counterbalance them.

The debt of gratitude that I owe to your Trustees, your Director,
and yourselves, I fear I can never properly fulfil. So kind colleagues
take this as a farewell from a retiring fellow archaeologist, who remains
an everlasting grateful friend.

Winlock, who was shown this letter by Lythgoe, was much upset: ‘It
has knocked all of the spirit out of me for I feel that my long report to
you must have discouraged you and made you sceptical even of one of
your best wishers .’ 23 There can be little doubt that he was right in
thinking that his very long letter had overwhelmed Carter, even though
its tenor had not been wholly depressing. One can visualize a tired
Carter, lonely in a hotel room, recovering from one lecture, contem-
plating another, sorting his slides, trying to avoid going over once again
his future lecture plans with Mr Keedick, and leafing through Winlock’s
multi-page letter, confused, expecting the worst, not looking for the
hopeful. Still, it did not deter Winlock from writing another letter — a four-
pager only - to assure Carter that he had not, in argument with Lacau
and others, admitted ‘the government’s contention that you personally
are a difficulty.’ But he did admit, on his own part, that of any mistakes
he might have committed, ‘I fear my biggest has been in that last letter to
you.’ He then sets about convincing Howard Carter that he must go back
to Egypt next season: 2 *’

It’s hard to write to you convincingly about some sort of an indefinite
‘duty to science’ after the way you have been treated in Egypt. . . . That
job needs you and it’s a bigger job than any single personality involved
in it. No one out of Cairo knows who Lacau and Marcos Hanna are,
and ten years hence they will be forgotten even in Cairo. It is
Tutankhamon’s name that will remain, and with it yours and
Carnarvon’s — and yours shall be with it to the end.

25 In a letter to Howard Carter of 3 June, in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter

files.

26 In same letter as last.

369

HOWARD CARTER

Unconsciously, no doubt, in making this stirring appeal, Winlock echoed
the ancient Egyptian claim, so often made by a son or a successor, of
having made a father’s or predecessor’s name live (for ever).

Winlock then commends Merzbach to Carter and urges him to write
to Maxwell or Merzbach to see what their views are ‘if you have any hesi-
tation in following what I suggest.’ He points out that in acting for Carter
he had his interests at heart: ‘I took it up as your friend - not as a member
of this Museum - and I want to see you get all that is practically possible -
but I believe I have no illusions on what is impossible.’ Winlock truly
believed that a settlement was negotiable. He was not trying to lull Carter
into a sense of false confidence for the future. His position is made clear
in a letter he wrote to Alan Gardiner on 2 June in which he moans about
the malign influence of the tomb and briefly outlines his efforts on
Carter’s behalf in Cairo. 2 He concludes:

I left Egypt without a definite settlement, but I feel perfectly confident
that Carter will be back in the tomb next year. ... I believe that every-
thing is susceptible of settlement.

Letters from Columbus, Ohio, and Buffalo, New York, renewed
Carter’s thanks for all Winlock had done. 28 He does not agree to go on
trying for a settlement, but, as a pointer for the future, he does report
that he had cabled to Maxwell, releasing him from the case and asking
him to hand over all documents to Merzbach. Still he continues his
breast-beating for his behaviour, for having put his colleagues in difficult
positions, for jeopardizing the future of other expeditions, and lamenting
the uncharitable attitude of the Egyptians. It is difficult to understand
how he could continue with his tour, especially as he says in his
Columbus letter, ‘I have been having a rotten time lately - tired and bad
heads - but am now much better again.’ He could have done with a good
friend like Percy White to cheer him up. It is scarcely surprising that his
behaviour often left much to be desired. Lee Keedick found him ‘the
most quarrelsome and cantankerous of men.’ He enlarges: 29

He was never enjoying himself unless he was in argument over the
most insignificant matter, and even children did not escape him. Cab

27 G.I. Gardiner Corr. AHG/42, 375.41.

28 Letters of 4 and 6 June in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

29 See n. 5 above, p. 357.

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AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

drivers, hotel door men, railroad conductors, Pullman Dining Car
conductors, and even little flower girls all came in for his invective and
acrimonious and irritating comments. . . . The above indicates his
normal mood.

Howard Carter’s normal mood, as Lee Keedick saw it, was kept nicely
in tune by the stresses of the lecture tour. He did not have to do anything
to attract annoyance. The morning after he arrived in Toronto, his first
point of call in Canada, he was surprised to find in the Toronto Star Weekly
for 7 June a report of an interview supposedly given, if not the night
before, then recently. In answer to the question, ‘Is there any likelihood
of Canada ever seeing any of the treasures from the tomb of King Tut?’
he is said to have answered, ‘I think so. When the distribution is finally
made Canada should get some of the archaeological specimens.’ In vexa-
tion Carter sent a cutting to Lythgoe, commenting:’" ‘I arrived in
Toronto last night (Sat. 10.45 pm) - went straight to bed without seeing a
single news correspondent, and yet see what they say regarding a
supposed interview and division of antiquities - for which I suppose I get
the blame!’

Three days in Toronto were followed by three in Montreal and two in
Ottawa. He arrived in Ottawa in time to take lunch with the Governor-
General, Viscount Byng, a very distinguished First World War general,
who had taken the precaution of sending his invitation to Toronto a
week in advance. ’ 1 Lee Keedick’s notes of reminiscences of the Carter
tour states that it was on the train from Montreal to Ottawa that Carter
took great delight in writing critical remarks all over the dining car menu.
If it so happened, and there is little reason to question the memory,
Carter may have thought his behaviour a harmless form of letting off
steam; the sending of the annotated card to the Superintendent of the
Dining Car Service of the Canadian Pacific Railway offered a suitable, if
juvenile, way of expressing his spleen.

By good planning — it might be called split-second timing — the lecture
tour ended on 15 June, and Carter was back in New York on the 16th,
with just a day to recover before travelling to Yale to accept the one
academic honour he received in his whole career. It may have been
Ludlow Bull who was the initiator of this honour. He was a graduate of
Yale, and for many years was the honorary curator of the Egyptian

30 Letter of 8 June in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

31 The letter of invitation in Jonathan Carter’s possession.

371

HOWARD CARTER

Collection in the Peabody Museum in the University, and from 1925 an
Assistant Professor in the Department of Near-Eastern Studies. He had
recently been recruited to work with Breasted and Gardiner on the
Coffin Text project of the Chicago Oriental Institute; he was therefore
well acquainted with recent Carter events from the side most sympa-
thetic to his cause. The presentation for the degree was made by William
Lyon Phelps, a Professor of English, said to have been Yale’s most
inspiring teacher over many years/’ 2 Having outlined Carter’s career in
terms slightly reminiscent of Carter’s Who’s Who entry, Professor Phelps
sums up:

By imagination, perseverance, courage, indomitable resolution and
scientific skill, Howard Carter succeeded in making persons who had
been dead thousands of years monopolize the first page of newspa-
pers as the most important news of the day, thus making mummies
more interesting than living man.

Provost Graves then declared:

In recognition of your preeminent achievements as a scientist and
explorer, and more particularly of your work in Egypt that after long
years of patient and courageous effort has revealed to the world the
accurate story of an ancient civilization, we confer upon you the degree
of Doctor of Science and admit you to all its rights and privileges.

So he now became Dr Howard Carter. He would never be similarly
honoured by an British university, but he could have no reason to be
other than proud to be able to boast an honorary degree from one of
America’s premier institutions of higher learning.

The end of the tour left Howard Carter with almost two full weeks to
rest and be entertained in New York and on Long Island (by the Har-
nesses, among others). It had been a long haul of two months of rail
travel, meeting many eager and hospitable people, lecturing, being lion-
ized, and the whole coloured, or perhaps tainted, by the news from
Egypt and his future. He had, it seems, borne the strain unusually well,
and the cantankerous behaviour remembered by Lee Keedick was partic-
ular, and perhaps even aimed obliquely at him. Two months of shep-

32 I am grateful to Dr Gerry D. Scott III for sending me photocopies of the relevant
pages from the Yale Alumni Weekly, vol. 33, no. 40 of 4 July 1924.

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AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

herding a sensitive personality was bound to generate stress, even
antagonism. Carter had, in any case, done well; his lectures had been
enthusiastically received, and he had been excellently rewarded. Precise
figures of his ‘profit’ have not been recorded; the Keedick Lecture
Bureau archives, which might have contained interesting details, were
unfortunately destroyed in a warehouse fire in 1939. 33

Now that he was back in New York, Carter had matters to discuss
with Winlock, who earnesdy believed that the basis for an agreement
satisfactory to all sides was at last possible. Following their discussions,
Winlock drew up for Carter a letter addressed to Lacau 54 which was
conciliatory without being obsequious, in which Carter agreed to the
renunciation of claims for objects from the tomb, although pointing out
that it might still be difficult to persuade General Sir John Maxwell to
reissue the renunciation on behalf of the Carnarvon estate. With the
suggested articles of the newly proposed permit generally accepted, inci-
dental but troublesome problems concerning the Press, visitors, lists of
collaborators, and the inclusion of Tutankhamun objects in the Cairo
Museum Guide , ceased to offer difficulty. It is not certain that Carter ever
sent this letter, or a further revised version, to Lacau, but when he left
New York on the SS Mauretania on 2 July he had good reasons for feeling
confident drat he would return to Egypt later in the year.

With characteristically bad timing, copies of tire Statement containing
the documentation on the troubles with the Cairo authorities in the
winter of 1923—4 arrived in the Metropolitan Museum a few days before
Carter took ship for Europe.’ 3 Winlock may or may not have believed
that the idea of such a publication — which was limited and confidential —
was good; it did set out starkly the unhappy course of negotiations,
showing Howard Carter, understandably, as the reasonable victim of
unreasonable bureaucrats; but its issue at this moment seemed unfortu-
nate, to say the least. It would be good if it were not sent to Lacau or to
His Excellency Morcos Hanna. But what especially annoyed Winlock
was a final appendix in which Carter printed his long letter to Winlock
about the discovery of the painted wooden head of the young king
emerging from a lotus flower. It included the exchange of cables, of
which Winlock’s had been marked confidential, and which he now
seemed to think would in some way compromise him. A letter from

33 Information provided by Mr Robert Keedick.

34 Copy of the text in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

35 See p. 316 above.

373

HOWARD CARTER

Lythg° e to Winlock, written after Lythgoe had been apprised by
Winlock of the contents of the Statefnent . , and had seen a copy, makes it
quite clear that the inclusion of the cables constituted not only Winlock’s
but also the Museum’s objection to the dossier : 36

Unless I am much mistaken the contents of that pamphlet will soon
leak out, and I feel it is a matter of urgent necessity that we should stop
the appearance of those confidential cablegrams by a cablegram to
Carter to catch him on his arrival in London next Tuesday ... at the
same time you should cable Mr. Robinson informing him of the step
you have taken.

In answer Winlock suggested a cautious approach to Carter , 37 using
perhaps the mediation of Edward Robinson, who happened to be a
fellow passenger on the Mauretania with Carter.

It must be presumed that Winlock or Lythgoe got in touch with
Robinson, who had the opportunity during the Atlantic crossing to read
through the Statement. Subsequently he wrote two letters to Lythgoe,
outlining his thoughts on the matter and the results of his talks with
Carter /’ 8 The impression he formed from the dossier was of ‘a good case
badly handled from start to finish’. He had been reluctant to tackle
Carter head on, but was spared the task of finding the right moment by
Carter’s own raising of the matter. He had suggested to Carter that things
had not been handled very adroitly, and he found that he was in receptive
mood and agreed with almost everything he said. So he advised him not
to circulate the Statefnent , and to be more accommodating to the Egyp-
tian Government. It is perhaps not surprising that Carter and Robinson
got on well together. Robinson was not an Egyptologist; he could
observe the Egyptian problem from an independent although not
unsympathetic position; he had wide artistic interests. Carter certainly
felt no resentment at Robinson’s intervention, and was happy to join
Robinson and his wife on a visit to Bath very shortly after they arrived in
England.

As for the Statement , it is not known if excisions were made in any
copies. The two sent to Breasted are complete; that sent to President

36 Written on 3 July from his home in Woodstock, Connecticut; in Department

of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

37 A telegram to Lythgoe, a copy of the text of which, undated is in M.M.A., as last.

38 Letters of 15 and 18 July in M.M.A., as last.

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AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

Coolidge has not been examined; 39 Newberry’s copy in the Griffith Insti-
tute, Oxford, retains the appendix, as does the copy in the Metropolitan
Museum. Recorded reactions are few. Breasted wrote: 40 ‘The summary
will always be a monument in the history of research in the Near East.’
No comment from Gardiner or the Carnarvons has survived. Repercus-
sions seem to have been negligible until the copy kept in the Egyptian
Department of the Metropolitan Museum was used rather freely as a
documentary source by Thomas Hoving in 1978. 41 Carter’s dramatic act
of catharsis lay in the preparation and publication of the record, not in
reading what its recipients thought about it.

Although there remained things to be done in order to ensure that his
return to Egypt would be accompanied by a reissuing of Lady
Carnarvon’s excavation permit, Carter faced the summer in England in a
much more relaxed frame of mind than he might have expected a month
or two earlier. If the notes in his diary, already mentioned, truly indicated
that he invested tire bulk of the proceeds of his lecture tour in an annuity
of £1000 a year, then he had good reason to feel that his financial future
was reasonably secure. Still, with his dangerous tendency to punish
himself unnecessarily, his first recorded excursion after his return was to
Wembley on 14 July to view the travesty of his Theban tomb. No
comment in his diary! Presumably he had been persuaded, by the with-
drawal of his writ against die Directors of the British Empire Exhibition,
that there was nothing to be done. If a catalogue had been available he
could have amused himself by annotating it even more freely than the
dining-car menu on the Montreal-Ottawa train. More agreeable, surely,
was the visit he made to Bath with the Robinsons.

It was during this summer that Carter developed a taste for motoring.
The car that Carnarvon had purchased for the Theban expedition had
demonstrated the convenience and comfort of independent transport
rather faster than die donkey, and travel by car was distinctly the best way
to get about the countryside in Britain, especially when visiting friends in
country houses. Carter never learned to drive. He certainly employed a
driver in Egypt; a letter to Newberry on 12 March 1924 had asked him
‘to tell my cook at my house and also my chauffeur to arrange for the car

39 One Breasted copy is in the O.I. Chicago, the other with his family. A letter from the
White House of 22 July acknowledging the receipt of the Statement, with Jonathan
Carter.

40 Copy of the letter of 29 September in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1924.

41 See Hoving, Tutankhamun. The Untold Story ; chapters 25—32.

375

HOWARD CARTER

and donkeys on the river Sunday morning.’ 42 With his new-found afflu-
ence he could afford to hire a car with a driver, and his diary notes a trip
to the Welsh borders, to Tewkesbury, Gloucester, Worcester, Stratford
and Malvern with Mary Carter 43 (5—13 August), another to Buxton in
Derbyshire and then to Monmouth and Malvern (16—21 August), and a
third with William Carter, again to Malvern (26 August - 2 September),
including a visit to the Maces at Painswick in Gloucestershire. Just a few
days later he motored to Tetton House near Taunton, to visit Mervyn
Herbert, and he returned there (by train) on 1 9 September for two nights
and some shooting. In between all these excursions well out of Town he
also visited the Newberrys at Ightham in Kent. It was not all relaxation,
however; with Mervyn Herbert he needed to discuss the position of the
executors of the Earl of Carnarvon’s estate, including the matter of the
renunciation as a condition for a new permit. But mostly it was a time to
unwind, to get out of London and away from the many demands on his
time. He could admit to Lady Carnarvon, 44 ‘I have just completed as
good a holiday as the weather permitted in central England. . . . What a
beautiful part of England for scenery - abbeys and cathedrals combined
with most lovely air on both the Malvern and Cotswolds hills.’ She was in
Scotland at the time, but Carter needed to see her to pull together his
plans and confirm his strategy for his return to Egypt. He also had it in
mind - if she still wished it — to bring the Carnarvon collection from
Highclere to Seamore Place in London.

His meeting with Lady Carnarvon did not take place until 6
November. 45 She then felt that the way forward was by accepting the
terms that had been offered by Cairo earlier in the summer, although
they would involve the sacrifice of her other interests in some favourable
setdement over the contents of the tomb. She also then asked Carter to
go down to Highclere and pack up the collection, not for transference to
Seamore Place, but for deposit in the Bank of England. This packing he
carried out between 11 and 18 November. The cases were sent to
London on 17 November. The consignment contained all the antiquities
considered to be ‘the Carnarvon Collection’. As Carter noted on the list

42 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/80.

43 This could have been Samuel’s or William’s wife, the latter being perhaps the more
likely. She was to die later in the year on 30 November, the day Howard Carter
returned from Madrid.

44 Copy of letter of 18 September in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

45 Noted in a letter of 17 November which had never been sent on to Lady Carnarvon by
his solicitors; in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

376

AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

he drew up at the time. ‘A few unimportant antiquities not belonging to
the above series I left at Highclere’. These last were the objects which
were rediscovered in Highclere in 1987 and subsequently. But as far as
the main collection was concerned, Lady Carnarvon had decided to
sell. 46

In October Carter fulfilled a number of outstanding lecture engage-
ments, and undertook others that might be classified as duty obliga-
tions. 4 He spoke in Norwich, and was entertained by the Colmans, of
mustard fame, at their great nineteenth-century mansion Crown Point
Hall in Trowse Newton, a few miles out of the city. He went twice to
Swaffham and lectured in the town cinema on 29 October. He spoke at
Rugby School and Newbury Grammar School (while at Highclere), and
at Eton College and Westminster School; he noted that it took him 50
minutes to motor to Eton. Soon there followed a long-planned visit to
Spain as the guest of the Duke of Alba. 48 This distinguished Spanish
nobleman, patron of the arts and President of the Comite Hispano-
Ingles, had made several visits to Egypt and had developed a respect and
liking for Carter which would continue right up until Carter’s death. Alba
first raised the question of a lecture in Madrid at the time when Carter
was in Cairo attending Carnarvon in his last days, and the formal invita-
tion was issued in December 1923; all expenses paid and a fee of £80.
Finally November 1924 was fixed. Carter met the Duke of Alba in
London on 5 November and arranged for his films to be sent to Madrid
by the Spanish Ambassador’s bag. Then on the 22nd he spent the night
at the Ritz in Paris with the Duke, and together they travelled by train to
Madrid. His first lecture on the 24th in the Salon of the Residencia de
Estudiantes was so well attended that the second, on the following day,
was transferred to the Teatro Fontalba. Such was the enthusiasm that
followed these lectures that the Comite Hispano-Ingles endeavoured to
satisfy public demand by organizing a third lecture with an exhibition of
Tutankhamun photographs in the Real Cinema, with a text prepared by
the well-known writer Manuel Machado from Carter’s presentations.
Shortly after Carter’s departure he was elected a corresponding member

46 See p. 409 below for the text of Carter’s summary of the history of the collection after
Carnarvon’s death. On the discoveries at Highclere, see N. Reeves, Ancient Egypt at
Highclere Castle (Highclere, 1989), pp. 17£

47 Noted in his Pocket Diary for 1924 in G.I. Carter Papers.

48 Details in the Pocket Diary, and in documents in the possession of Jonathan Carter. I
am also grateful to Jaromir Malek for providing additional information about Carter’s
two visits to Spain.

377

HOWARD CARTER

of the Royal Academy of History of Madrid. In sending him the docu-
ment of appointment and a medal, 49 the Duke of Alba wrote to say that
the King Alfonso XIII had signed Carter’s nomination for a royal deco-
ration, ‘but as usual your Government has refused the placet; this is a
general rule since King Edward, because he always allowed British
subjects to wear foreign decorations. I am sorry we could not do more
and it is not our fault.’ Carter would return to lecture again in Madrid in
May 1928.

Back in London on 30 November, Carter had ten days only to settle
matters and determine his programme for the coming season. He had
booked his passage to Egypt for 10 December, but remained in some
doubt about the advisability of going back. Uncertainty pervaded all
discussions. He had talked the matter over with Lady Carnarvon before
going to Madrid; her view was to accept what had been offered. It would
involve a great sacrifice on her part, as Carter pointed out in his letter of
19 November which was not sent on by his solicitors, although he
believed such a course would be ‘most dignified and best’. 30 General Sir
John Maxwell was unwilling to surrender the claims of the Carnarvon
estate on partage or compensation.

Carter therefore wrote rather confusedly to Mervyn Herbert on 3
December, seeking advice on what he should do. 51 He pointed out that
according to the concession that was on offer, ‘the Estate is to bear all
risks and costs past and future without any compensation whatsoever,
the Eg. Gov. allowing the right of scientific publication only to the estate
at our cost.’ He felt that Lady Carnarvon should be allowed time to
consider the question. He also wondered whether he should return to
Egypt as planned ‘under the present conditions’. He was much bothered
about the future of excavation in the country following the introduction
of new restrictions on expeditions, and he stated that scientific bodies in
America, England and elsewhere were being obliged to stop work in
Egypt. As some kind of testimonial of himself he also included the text
of a statement put out by the joint Archaeological Committee which was
made up of representatives of the British Academy and the principal
archaeological societies of England. It contained a strong statement of
appreciation of Carter’s work, it deplored the current controversies
which imperilled the work, and it concluded:

49 Letter of 12 December with Jonathan Carter.

50 See n. 45.

51 Copy in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

378

AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

they are strongly of opinion that the interests of science demand that
the exploration should remain in the hands of Mr. Howard Carter and
his colleagues, with the independence which it is customary to allow to
excavators of proved competence.

In this letter, and indeed in all the few documents surviving from the
days before his return to Egypt, the only hint that there had been polit-
ical changes in Egypt lies in those words ‘under the present conditions’.
At this very time significant developments were taking place, the
outcome of which could not be reasonably predicted in early December.
The administration led by Saad Zaghlul Pasha had run increasingly into
difficulties with the British government, and had steadily wasted such
goodwill as it retained with Lord Allenby in Cairo. Zaghlul had failed
during the summer of 1924 to advance his treaty negotiations with
Ramsay Macdonald in London, and had subsequently encouraged
popular agitation in Egypt beyond the limits thought permissible for a
constitutionally elected Prime Minister. His political demise was precipi-
tated by the murder in Cairo on 19 November of Sir Lee Stack, Sirdar
(Commander-in-Chief) of the Egyptian Army and Governor-General of
the Sudan. Allenby was outraged at this act, and although Zaghlul was
quick to express his regrets at what had happened, he could not avoid
the High Commissioner’s wrath, the delivery of a severe ultimatum, and
consequently the submission of his own resignation to the King on 22
November.

The political future of Egypt was very uncertain, particularly as the
Wafd remained the strongest single party, and likely to obtain a majority
in any election. For the moment, however, Zaghlul was replaced as Prime
Minister by Ziwar Pasha, ‘a Turkish-Egyptian of the old school who
formed a Ministry of non-entities who were quite prepared to make up
for their own impotence by sheltering behind the ample resources of the
British High Commission.’ 52 In this situation of political instability
Howard Carter returned to Egypt, arriving in Cairo on 15 December. He
could scarcely have chosen a more favourable moment to reopen negoti-
ations. He had known Ziwar Pasha for some time and reckoned him to
be very friendly. On the day after his arrival, and by extraordinary chance,
he ran into Ziwar in the Continental Hotel where he was staying. What
happened from that moment until late January 1925, when he was once

52 For the historical background, see J. Marlowe, A.nglo-ELgyptian Relations 1800—1953
(London, 1950, p. 271.

379

HOWARD CARTER

again allowed to work in the Valley, is set out in some detail in a long
report he sent to Molony, the solicitor in London. He also sent a copy,
omitting a few confidential communications, to Edward Robinson with
whom he now seemed to be on unusually good terms. In his covering
letter to Robinson he spoke of his hopes for the future in Egypt,
mentioned enthusiastically his visit to Spain — ‘The pictures wonderful’ —
and looked forward to seeing the Robinsons in England again: ‘I have
discovered lots of really nice excursions . . . the next time you come. 33

Ziwar, as Carter reports, raised the question of the tomb of
Tutankhamun as soon as they met, and they both agreed that it was
important to settle outstanding problems, for the good not only of
archaeology but also of tourism. They should meet officially to discuss
the matter. Carter noticed that everyone wanted him back and the work
to resume:

Thus once again Tut.ankh.amen has become the centre of political
intrigue, fortunately this time rather in favour of our interests than
against them, and obviously a world wide advertisement for the Egyp-
tian tourist and hotel Companies.

On the same day he saw his new lawyer in Egypt, Georges Merzbach,
who also happened to be on good terms with Ziwar Pasha and other
members of his administration. Merzbach had already been preparing his
dispositions, seeking support from the High Commission for the renewal
of Lady Carnarvon’s permit on the basis of the terms already offered by
the Government during the summer. The question of a gift of duplicate
objects could be left to the discretion of the Egyptian Government.
Carter then took the matter to Robert Furness, the Oriental Secretary at
the High Commission, who promised to follow it up. As soon as Carter
heard from Furness that Allenby would be willing to open negotiations,
he felt that prospects for a reopening of work were so good that he tele-
graphed to Molony the promising news, requesting from the Carnarvon
estate a small credit of £500-£1000 in expectation of the recommence-
ment. Inevitably, things did not move forward as quickly as initial indica-
tions had promised.

Not until 28 December was Carter able to obtain an audience with
Ziwar Pasha. It was the occasion when, as mentioned earlier, he shared

53 A copy of the report to Molony in G.I. Carter Papers VI, 13A; Carter’s letter to
Robinson of 24 January 1925 in M.MA., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

380

AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

the meeting with Georges Foucart, the Director of the French Institute
in Cairo, who took the opportunity to intrigue against Lacau, and to
speak strongly against the new regulations for excavators which were
shordy to be introduced. Carter made some suggestions for the resolu-
tion of the dispute and proposed that Ziwar should arrange a meeting
between Carter, Merzbach and the new Minister for Public Works. Ziwar
asked Carter to put his request in writing, and this he did later in a letter
drafted by Merzbach. Nothing much happened until 4 January 1925,
when Merzbach set about organizing a meeting with Sidky Pasha, the
Minister of the Interior, Lacau and Abd el-Hamid Bedawy Pasha. The
last was the Conseiller Royal to the administration, who, on the basis of
his style of negotiating in the spring of 1924, was not thought to be
particularly well disposed to the British case. It was apparent that the
new administration, in spite of being in principle favourable to Carter,
had so little knowledge of earlier negotiations that they were obliged to
fall back on those like Lacau and Bedawy Pasha, who had the affair at
their fingertips. Carter had, however, again by chance, met Ziwar Pasha
informally on the evening of the 4th, and had been told that there should
be no difficulty over achieving a settlement on the basis of his letter,
apart from the question of division. It was important that a claim for a
division be renounced, but that ‘the Egyptian Government would in the
end be generous towards Almina, Countess Carnarvon, in the matter of
duplicates which would not interfere with “le grand ensemble”.’

The meeting arranged by Merzbach took place on 7 January and went
badly at first, but was turned round by Merzbach himself who ‘brilliantly
carried through many points’. It was agreed that the British side would
renounce its rights to a division, and a letter along the lines of the
proposal made by Ziwar would be issued separately, committing the
Egyptian Government to the granting of duplicates. Carter again cabled
Molony, looking forward expectantly to a further meeting of the negoti-
ating parties on the 11th. Unfortunately Merzbach and Carter found
Bedawy Pasha and Lacau reluctant to follow the instructions they had
certainly received from their superiors to show ‘every latitude’ in discus-
sion. Once more Merzbach played the right cards, and satisfactory texts
of a new concession and the letter on duplicates were received on the
same day from the Ministry of Public Works. The negotiations were
finally concluded on the 12th, and Merzbach and Carter called on the
minister, Mahmoud Bey Sidky, who received them very cordially,

381

HOWARD CARTER

requesting Carter to return to Luxor as soon as possible to begin work
again. Carter and Merzbach cabled Molony:

To Almina and all concerned STOP Will sign tomorrow Wednesday
new concession wherein Government is willing to give at his discre-
tion Almina a choice of duplicates as representative as possible of
discovery wherever such duplicates can be separated from whole
without damage to science STOP This maximum reasonable in my
opinion STOP Please request Almina and executors to at once
renounce any claim whatsoever against Government STOP Please
send credit National Bank Luxor work to proceed at once STOP Our
heartiest congratulations.

Very little now remained in the way of Carter’s return to Luxor. There
were the inevitable dottings of i’s and crossings of t’s - the exchange of
confirmatory letters between Carter and the Minister, 54 the settling of
some problems over the unpacking of cases in the Cairo Museum, cour-
tesy visits to the Prime Minister, and an audience with King Fuad on 14
January ‘His Majesty was most cordial. Our conversation was only very
superficial.’

A cable from Molony on 14 January clinched the agreement:

Proposals approved by Lady Carnarvon and executors renunciation
signed and posted you today cabling five hundred pounds.

Carter concluded his long letter to Molony with a handsome expres-
sion of thanks to Georges Merzbach: ‘. . . I believe I am right in
mentioning drat on one occasion in particular he saved a very grave situ-
ation. To his wise counsel I am deeply indebted.’ Indeed it must be
wondered whether the whole sorry affair might not have been concluded
satisfactorily in the spring of 1924 if Merzbach had been in charge rather
than Maxwell. Merzbach undoubtedly profited from his life-long experi-
ence of living in Egypt; from his instinctive understanding of how to
negotiate with Egyptians, and from not being British. It is questionable
whether he would have fared very much better than Maxwell at the time
when so many people were involved in the negotiations - Breasted,
Gardiner, Sir John Maxwell, Winlock, Carter himself. Nevertheless, in

54 The texts of the letters by Howard Carter and by Sidky Pasha, Minister of Public
works, are printed in H. Carter, The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen , II, p. xv.

382

AMERICA AND IMPROVING PROSPECTS

the less crowded circumstances that prevailed after May 1924 he was able
to proceed quiedy and efficiently, advising always negotiation not litiga-
tion. When Carter returned and the climate seemed perfect for settle-
ment, it was again Merzbach who succeeded in preventing the
resumption of bitter recriminatory skirmishing between Carter on the
one hand and Lacau and Abd el-Hamid Bedawy Pasha on the other.
Carter and his side had every reason to be grateful.

Howard Carter was back in Luxor on 19 January and ready to set
about a short campaign in which he expected to confine his activities to a
general tidying up of things in the tomb and the laboratory in readiness
for a full season to begin in September or October later in the year. On
the following day he was joined by Callender from Armant. Their differ-
ences of the previous spring were, as it seems, placed in abeyance for the
time being. Carter also had the pleasure - for so it may be hoped it was - of
entertaining Georges Merzbach and his wife, who had come to Luxor
for a holiday. They had never, presumably, seen the tomb of
Tutankhamun, and the present moment offered a unique opportunity to
be in at the reopening.

Carter and the Merzbachs first went to the Valley of the Kings on 22
January to inspect the state of the various places used by the excavators.
The tomb itself was covered by a layer of rubbish about half a metre
deep. The entrance to the tomb of Sethos II, the laboratory, was closed
‘with a construction of a kind of lattice-work completely plastered over
with white plaster.’ Before the entrance of the tomb was a sorry sight:

We found that beautiful linen pall that covered the King’s grave, and
for which I brought out Dr. Alexander Scott, Mr. and Mrs. Newberry
from England especially to preserve it and had made a special lining
for it, left out in the open unprotected from the Sun and wind. It is
ruined! They had removed the carpenter’s kiosk and placed it on the
pall.

The magazine and lunch tomb (no. 4) ‘from all outward appearances
seems to be alright.’

And so, according to plan, the three tombs were handed back to
Carter on 25 January ‘with great pomp’, as he reported to Lady
Carnarvon: 50

55 Copy in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

383

HOWARD CARTER

by the Government Commission comprising: The Conseiller Royale
\sic\ Abd el Hamid Pasha Bedawi, The Mudir of Keneh, The Bey the
Marmour \sk\ of Luxor, two representatives of the Police, The Insp. in
Chief of the Antiquity Depart., The Insp. of Luxor, Mr. Quibell, M.
Lefebvre, and M. Baraize a sort of foreman to the S. des A. [Service
des Antiquites ]. 36 Lacau was not present. It would seem that he was
ashamed to show his face.

Merzbach and Callender were also in the party, and the portentous
occasion was completed with an official dinner given by the Mudir of
Qena (Keneh). Howard Carter was reinstalled in the Valley of the Kings.
All seemed to be sweetness and light. The omens were promising. But
internal politics could easily change the prospect. On the day before the
official hand-over, Carter wrote to Edward Robinson : 5

If the coming elections here go well, as I believe they will, and this
new Government remains in power, I should not be surprised to see
the Lacaunian plans derided. It will not be my fault if they are not.
People in Egypt are beginning to find out where the real trouble lies,
and the sooner the better.

For the moment Howard Carter could contemplate the future with a
degree of equanimity which would surely have surprised his supporters
of the previous spring.

56 Emile Baraize was Director of Works for the Antiquities Service, employed in the
restoration and conservation of ancient buildings.

57 Letter of 24 January, see n. 53 above.

384

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH
REVERENCE

Howard Carter’s return to Luxor in January 1925 was somewhat muted,
as, no doubt, he would have wished. The excitement and drama of the
preceding two seasons in the Valley of the Kings had more than
adequately demonstrated that good archaeology could not easily be
pursued when the lives of the archaeologists were bedevilled by the
demands of publicity and the requirements of social life. The complica-
tion of legal proceedings, springing from ground fertilized and nourished
by Press intrigues and political resentments, provided unexpected addi-
tional burdens which Carter in particular was ill-equipped to handle. For
the moment, as far as the world at large was concerned, he seemed to be
on his own, backed by the wise and energetic Merzbach. In the work of
the tomb he still had Lucas and Burton, and also Callender who sadly
had become less committed and more self-seeking, as events would
show. Most of the influential supporters who had both helped and
hindered his affairs in the spring of 1924, were mercifully out of Egypt;
in the case of his colleagues in the Metropolitan House there was a
distinct wariness of further involvement. He was not abandoned, but left
to get on with his work — an outcome which scarcely displeased him. His
colleagues at Luxor and elsewhere were yet very divided in mind about
the future and their attitude to Carter and his tomb. Feelings of loyalty,
revulsion and responsibility were mixed with a fascination for the great
discovery. There was much more to be revealed, and it would be a shame
to take up a position which might preclude future involvement.

In some respects Carter’s most loyal supporter at this time remained
Alan Gardiner. As ever he looked to the Egyptological importance of
Tutankhamun’s tomb, and the need for Carter to complete the job. The
axe he ground was that of archaeological necessity, certainly the most
disinterested of the many axes that had been ground and would be

385

HOWARD CARTER

ground by others. Gardiner’s own future involvement was uncertain.
Carter had always thought of him (as Carnarvon had done) as the man
best able to deal with the tomb’s texts. But in early 1925 these texts were
not high in Carter’s priorities, and Gardiner, who was not without impor-
tant pieces of work to engross his time, was left in doubt about what calls
might be made on him in the future. He remained bitterly opposed to the
regime of Pierre Lacau as Director-General of the Antiquities Service,
and was not at all sanguine about Carter’s prospects. Before Carter had
quite returned to Luxor, Gardiner wrote to Albert Lythgoe: 1

I doubt whether any satisfactory arrangement will be reached so long
as Lacau is at the head of the Service. ... I read in the paper this
morning that the difference with regard to the tomb has been settled,
at which I am delighted, but Lacau has behaved so badly that I still feel
that I should be unwilling to bolster up his position . . . the blame for
all that has occurred, both as regards the tomb and as regards the new
law, seems to me to rest almost wholly on Lacau’s shoulders.

Almost one month later he wrote to Breasted: 2

What exactly my plan will be in 1 926 I don’t quite know. Carter has
not written to me a single word and I don’t know to what extent, or
even whether, I shall be wanted to deal with the texts in the tomb.

It is possible that Carter had become shy of asking Gardiner to resume
work in the tomb, aware of the latter’s other commitments, not least of
which was the completion of his great Egyptian Grammar , a monumental
and abidingly important work which would transform the approach to
the teaching of the Egyptian language. It would be published in 1927,
and has remained, even in the face of significant advances in the under-
standing of ancient Egyptian, the most influential work both for scholars
and for interested amateurs. The thought may well have struck Carter
that he would be wise to have someone else in reserve, preferably
someone on his own doorstep in Luxor. An excellent candidate would
be Dr Harold H. Nelson, a pupil of James Henry Breasted, who had in
the autumn of 1924 arrived in Luxor to become the first Director of the
Epigraphic and Architectural Survey of the Oriental Institute of the

1 Copy in G.I. Gardiner Corr. AHG/42.193.4, dated 3 January 1925.

2 O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1925, of 8 February.

386

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

University of Chicago - Breasted’s very special baby. The new expedi-
tion’s permanent home, Chicago House, had recendy been built at
Medinet Habu, near the temple of Ramesses III on which the expedition
would be working. The design of the house had been conceived by
Breasted, encouraged and financed by John D. Rockefeller Jr, and
executed by Arthur Callender during the spring and summer of 1 924. It
would become a new and welcome addition to the centres of scholarship
and hospitality in Western Thebes, most notably represented up until
that time by the Metropolitan House. Chicago House would be and
would increasingly become a true beacon for Egyptologists, especially
when new premises were built in Luxor itself in the 1930s. The hospi-
tality to be found there would not be as expansive as that offered by the
New Yorkers, but it would always be ready and, in its own way, generous.

On his return to Luxor in January 1925 Howard Carter met Dr Nelson
for the first time. Before Carter arrived Nelson had, possibly taking his
stance from Breasted, been prepared to keep his distance. Writing on 26
January to T. G. Allen, a Chicago colleague destined to become a distin-
guished, although inadequately recognized Egyptological scholar, he
commented: 3 ‘Everyone about here is talking of the opening of Tut’s
tomb. I am not in the least interested myself nor shall I make any effort
to get into the tomb.’ This somewhat grand and dismissive attitude
would be modified as time passed. On 17 February he reported to
Breasted a visit by Carter and Lucas to Chicago House: 4

When leaving, Carter asked me to come up and see the tomb and his
work and bring Mrs. Nelson along. I felt very embarassed [sic] as he
did not ask Mrs. Breasted, who was present at the time. I presume,
however, that it would be best for us to go some day, as this will be the
best way to relieve you of any trouble about asking for us. I would like
very much to go with you, but we shall see about that when you
return. Carter was most pleasant today.

The Nelsons made their visit in early March and were suitably
impressed. Harold Nelson’s brief account to George Allen provides a
fresh impression from a knowledgeable scholar at a time when Carter
was engaged in the unspectacular work of conservation and study, the
kind of work which would take up his time during the short 1925 season

3 Same source.

4 Same source.

387

HOWARD CARTER

and also future seasons until the tomb and its contents could be finally
declared cleared in 1932b

Carter gave us about two hours and showed us everything he could in
the tomb and the laboratory. Carter is working only on the stuff that
he had already taken out of the tomb last season. He does not intend
to take out anything this season, reserving that till next year. He was
working on one of the statues which stood beside the door of the
tomb chamber. He showed us the alabaster vase made in two parts
with painted figures between the parts of which Breasted has doubt-
less told you. It is a most extraordinary object. To me one of the most
interesting objects was the reed staff, an ordinary reed such as grows
besides the canals, tipped with gold at either end, and bearing an
inscription stating that it had been cut by the king’s own hand beside
Inis favorate [sic] pleasure lake. It gives a real human touch to the
object. The collection of staves of various kinds, of gold and silver,
solid, of wood overlaid with iridescent green and red beetles wings,
etc. was marvelous and must have been gorgeous, if barbaric, when
they were new.

He goes on to write of the silver trumpet which Carter described as a
hunting horn. It bore on its bell figures of the gods Amon-Re, Re-Hera-
khty and Ptah, and Nelson suggested that as these deities were
connected with the divisions of the Egyptian army during the Nine-
teenth Dynasty, the instrument was probably a military trumpet. Carter,
ever ready to spot a winning idea, ‘fell for that suggestion readily, though
I hope he does not make too much of it.’ Nelson was worried that his
idea might get into the papers. In the event, Carter did use the suggestion
in the second volume of his popular publication, 6 but without acknowl-
edging its author; for which lack of courtesy Nelson was probably
profoundly grateful.

In his published note on the trumpet Carter stated ‘were it blown
would still fill the Valley with a resounding blast.’ He had in fact tried it
himself; in a letter to Lady Carnarvon on 17 February he reported:
‘though I am no expert with such musical instruments, I managed to get
a good blast out of it which broke the silence of the Valley.’ 7 Memorable

5 Same source.

6 H. Carter, The Tomb of Tutankhamen, II (London, 1927), pp. 19, 30ff, and pi. II (b).

7 Letter in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

388

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

recordings of this silver and the bronze trumpets from the tomb were
made by the BBC in April 1939. 8 The trumpeter was Bandsman James
Tappern of the 1 1 th Prince Albert’s Own Hussars, and sadly his use of a
modern mouthpiece inserted into the silver trumpet shattered the instru-
ment. It was later so well repaired by Lucas that it could be blown by the
late Philip Jones, the distinguished brass instrumentalist, in the Cairo
Museum in January 1975. He subsequently wrote, 9 ‘Its sound was not
exactly melodious, as the bore in relation to its length is quite out of
proportion, but it was probably the most thrilling experience I shall have
as a trumpet player.’ The use of a mouth-piece enabled Bandsman
Tappern to obtain a wider range of notes than would have been possible
otherwise; as a martial instrument in antiquity it would commonly have
been played on a single pitch.

It may have been as a result of Nelson’s helpful comments on the
silver trumpet that Carter began to consider him as a possible collabo-
rator to work on texts in the tomb. In several letters written towards the
end of the season Nelson referred distastefully to the prospect of being
drawn into this association: 1 "

[2 April to Breasted] Carter again intimated yesterday that he might
need me at the tomb next fall. I am not anxious to get involved in that
enterprise, but if he can find no one else, I suppose I ought to do what
I can.

[22 April to Breasted] I am not anxious to be in Gurnah [Qurna] when
Carter returns, for he again suggested my presence at the tomb when
he opened the mummy case in the fall. The more I think of his sugges-
tion, the less I like it.

Nelson never specifies any particular reason for his unwillingness to
be involved, but it may have been the result of what he had heard from
others who had been persuaded to work with Carter since the discovery
of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Something of his poor reputation in this
respect comes out in a letter written to Breasted from Beirut on 6 July
1925. Even away from Egypt, Nelson brooded on the matter:

8 See N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun (London, 1990), pp. 164£; also Rex Keating,
The Trumpets ofTutankhamun (Basingstoke, 1999), pp. Iff.

9 Letter of 9 April 1975 in Department of Egyptian Antiquities, British Museum.

10 O.I. Director’s Office Corr. Nelson 1925.

389

HOWARD CARTER

Callender had a talk with me just before I left in which he warned me
against having anything to do with Carter’s suggestion. Of course,
Callender has a special grievance against Carter, but I am afraid there
is only too much ground for his warning. However, I can tell Carter
that I am too busy at the House to take on any obligation elsewhere.

Subsequendy, when the coffins were opened late in 1925, Nelson was
inexorably drawn into an involvement with Carter, as will be seen. The
experience did not, apparently, prove to be as disagreeable as he had
feared.

The Callender grievance mentioned by Nelson concerned his
supposed loss of income through the shortness of the 1923—4 season
(already mentioned), and the late start in January 1925. The matter came
to a head in June July 1925 when a letter from Callender to Alan
Gardiner, passed on to General Sir John Marshall and then back to
Carter, led to an exchange of letters between Carter and Callender. 11
Carter invoked friendship and common sense; Callender pressed his case
vigorously but ineffectively. Lawyers were consulted. The outcome
seems to have been wholly unsatisfactory for Callender, who never again
worked with Carter in the Valley of the Kings. It was a sad and disap-
pointing end to an old and friendly association which extended to times
before the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Callender may have been
expecting more than he could justify from what seems to have been a
verbal proposal by Carter for the length of his employment each season,
and he seems to have made no allowance for the external circumstances
which had curtailed the work in the second and third seasons. On the
other hand, it seems extraordinarily insensitive and ungenerous on
Carter’s part to behave so intractably towards one to whom he described
himself as being ‘among your very best friends’. Some accommodation
should surely have been found to satisfy Callender and avoid a complete
break. For the whole of the time from January 1925 until the end of the
season in early April Carter and Callender were in daily contact, the latter
even living for most of the time in Carter’s house. Some other specific
coolness must have modified the warmth of their old friendship, as had
apparently happened in January 1924, when Callender for unknown
reasons submitted his resignation to Carter. It may be thought that
Carter was the more culpable in this rift, but the possibility must be
allowed drat the time had come for his association with Callender to end,

1 1 In Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

390

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

and he felt no necessity to prolong it by some form of sympathetic
arrangement. As it was, in 1 925 Callender was working with Carter from
25 January until the first week in April, a total of about eleven weeks, for
which he received a full four months’ salary, as Callender himself
conceded.

A bare two months of this time was available for work on the objects
removed from the tomb in the preceding year. It was, nevertheless, a
satisfactory period with much being accomplished, and with litde inter-
ference from bureaucracy. Carter could report to Lady Carnarvon 12 ‘that
things are running very smoothly here and that I am gradually getting the
preservation work of the material in the laboratory done. It should be
through by the end of March, when I hope to have everything packed
ready for transport to the Cairo Museum.’ In the same letter he
comments, ‘Quite a number of people came professin [sic] to be great
friends of yours, saying that it was your express wish that I show them
the Tomb.’ Without a letter they got short shrift. His diary notes that
there were many government visitors, and that on 27 February the Prime
Minister, Ziwar Pasha, came to the Valley: ‘He seemed very pleased with
the discovery and the results of our discovery in general.’ He could also
note on 10 February: ‘Up to the present no newspaper correspondents
have shown any interest nor demanded any news.’ Conservation happily
did not make headlines. One satisfied private visitor was Dr Axel
Munthe, the Swedish doctor, physician of the Queen of Sweden, a highly
successful society practitioner whose evocative book on his life and
house on Capri, The Story of San Michele , became a continuing best-selling
work. He had been introduced to Carter in 1923 as a friend of Lord
Carnarvon by Lord Allenby and James Rennell Rodd. 1 ’ An intermittent
friendship developed subsequently, and Munthe kept in touch with
Carter for many years. He may have been instrumental in initiating a
profitable visit by Carter to Sweden in 1930 in the course of which he
got to know the Crown Prince, later King Gustav VI Adolf, a keen and
knowledgeable amateur archaeologist. 14

As often, with no surviving comments from Carter it is impossible to
say how welcoming he was to visitors like Axel Munthe, whose demands

12 Copy of letter of 17 February in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

13 The letters of introduction are in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.
James Rennell Rodd was a diplomat with Near-Eastern service, created Baron Rennell
in 1923.

14 See p. 435 below.

391

HOWARD CARTER

(subsequently, at least) went beyond a simple desire to see work in
progress. 15 Carter could, without deliberate intention, offend by failing to
recognize an undeclared desire from an occasional acquaintance. Such
happened with Welles Bosworth, an American architect who was
engaged with James Henry Breasted in preparing plans for a new
museum in Cairo to be funded by John D. Rockefeller Jr. Bosworth was
in Luxor in February 1925 collecting ideas for his project, and came
across Carter ‘in front of his tomb. He was cordial but he didn’t invite
me in and I didn’t propose it - won’t he be sorry some day? Perhaps he
“missed a trick” and then again perhaps he didn’t.’ 16 Bosworth writes as
if he had come across Carter sitting on the porch of his house and had
not been asked in for a drink. He clearly did not appreciate that an unex-
pected visit represented for Carter an unplanned loss of time in the work
he had to do. In fact he seems to have retained good relations with
Welles Bosworth, and even engaged with him in tortuous antiquities
dealings in the 1930s. 17

The early 1925 season came to an end in the last days of March, and
nineteen cases of antiquities were sent down to Cairo on the 31st by
steamer, with Carter and Callender following a few days later to super-
vise the unpacking in the Cairo Museum. For the time being relations
with Lacau and the Museum seemed to be good if not cordial, and, as
had been the case with the work of the season, few obstacles were placed
in Carter’s way. Lacau had not become a ‘reformed character’, if that
were to be what his adversaries of the previous year would have wanted.
Gardiner’s view has been mentioned; Breasted was equally cautious. In a
letter to Carter from Cairo, written on 28 March, he says: 18

I suppose you have heard that Lacau has cancelled 3 concessions,

those of Mond, Benedite and Foucart; there is much discussion about

it down here.

At least in this action Lacau could not be accused of being particularly
anti-British. While Robert Mond certainly might have thought so,
Georges Benedite, Curator of the Egyptian Department in the Louvre,
and Georges Foucart, Director of the French Institute in Cairo, could
hardly have done the same.

1 5 See p. 462 below.

16 Letter in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1925.

17 See p. 450 below.

18 O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1925.

392

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

Breasted himself could not resist the lure of the tomb, or the pursuit
of possibilities which might advance his own work. As ever he knew
what was best, and he had written to Carter on 1 9 March a long didactic
letter explaining the three distinct book-buying publics of America:
people who buy books in book-shops, people who buy from house-to-
house salesmen, and pupils in schools. 19 Finally he advised Carter to
make a contract with a good subscription-sale publisher who would
market his first volume and subsequent ones, dividing them into smaller
units to promote sales. For school purposes, he wanted to write a text-
book himself, but would need to have photographs of the objects already
published; an arrangement with Carter would be made. ‘What financial
return would you expect?’ It seems that Carter may in conversation have
indicated some interest in the idea, but he did nothing to pursue the
matter. But after he had returned to England Breasted pressed him again
and asked especially for five photographs for publication; he also
reminded Carter of the complete set of tomb photographs for the
Oriental Institute which Carter had said was in preparation. Things did
not work out well for Breasted. On a copy of the letter he wrote on 2 July
inviting Carter to tea at the Connaught Hotel, he set out bluntly what
had happened: 211

On Monday July 6 Carter called on me at this hotel and after
expressing some irritation at my request (a request wh[ich] he had
formerly accepted) and said I c’d have anything I wanted, he gave me a
memorandum signed by him authorising his photographer Sinclair to
furnish me with the desired 5 prints at a charge of £10 - 0 - 0. It was
understood orally that in view of this charge I had permission to
publish the photographs.

Although Carter always wrote politely to Breasted, it is easy to detect
how tired he was with the great historian’s regular and rather patronising
approaches. The differences between the two were partly matters of style
and nationality, but it may be recalled that Breasted had from earlier days
been in doubt about Carter’s reliability, and had been distinctly upset
over the loss of the sculpture to the Cleveland Museum. Carter was
acceptable as the discoverer of Tutankhamun’s tomb, as a source of
useful information and helpful publicity; he could be supported and

19 Same source.

20 Same source.

393

HOWARD CARTER

defended against forces which were generally hostile to archaeology in
Egypt. But in other respects doubts remained, and this photographic
charge seemed to snap Breasted’s forbearance. Later in the same year he
could write to his wife ‘to come into contact with Carter since my last
interview with him in London is very distasteful to me.’ 21

There is some evidence to suggest that Howard Carter struck a partic-
ularly low point in personal morale during the summer of 1925.
Although he was re-established in Luxor and had completed a good, if
not spectacular, season’s work, he had become increasingly isolated. He
had alienated Breasted and lost Callender. His Metropolitan Museum
friends had been less in evidence during his months in Egypt than in
previous seasons. He may even have kept away from them deliberately.
Minnie Burton’s diary entries, punctilious in their recording of who came
to luncheon, tea and dinner at the Metropolitan House, contain only
occasional mentions of Carter until the very last days of his season. He
may also have been unwell and particularly irritable, which might have
accounted for a letter written by Somers Clarke, his old architectural
mentor of Deir el-Bahri days, to H. R. H. Hall, Keeper of Egyptian and
Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum. 22 It apparendy answered one
from Hall in which Carter’s moods had been mentioned. Clarke did not
mince matters:

Poor old Carter. I fear for him. He has a liver of the first magnitude
and consequently a temper. The great ones will soon be tired of him
and drop him — Then the vitriol will drop from his lips, no more
honey. I am in agreement with your views about the bearers of stiff
collars and shirtfronts. Happily up here [Mahamid by Elkab] and at the
present temp. I have no clothes at all.

There was further for Carter the distinct worry about the coming
season when he would tackle what could be the most difficult and
certainly the most sensitive part of his whole work on the tomb, the
opening of the coffins and the exposure and exploration, archaeologi-
cally and anatomically, of the mummy of the first royal body to have
survived unviolated since antiquity 7 . Here was a task that would call on his
very best skills, and demand a reverential approach which did not

21 Letter of 17 November 1925, O.I. same source.

22 Letter of 30 August 1925 in Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities, British
Museum.

394

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

normally enter into archaeological activities. Could he handle the
expected stresses and conflicting requirements that would be expected of
him? In the event, he succeeded beyond all expectations; but the tasks in
advance must surely have seemed daunting. And he could not expect this
time to have such sympathetic support as had sustained him at the
opening of the tomb, the breaching of the Burial Chamber, and even the
raising of the great sarcophagus lid. Still he could hope to have at Iris side
Alfred Lucas and Harry Burton, and for the mummy, Dr Douglas Derry
and Dr Saleh Bey Hamdi, his chosen collaborators.

One matter that was set up satisfactorily during the summer of 1925
was the preparation of volume two of The Tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen.
Howard Carter put its shaping into the reliable hands of his old friend
Percy White, who had exercised some function in the writing of volume
one. White had now necessarily retired from his professorship in the
Egyptian University, for that institution had closed down in 1925. He
was 73 and living in England. 23 According to plan, the new volume
would continue the general narrative from the first volume, dealing prin-
cipally with the Burial Chamber, and covering what might be revealed by
the exploration of the coffins in the coming season. White wrote up the
notes provided by Carter, and made suggestions about the form and
additional content of the volume generally. Letters written from the
Savile Club in November indicate something of the process in action: 24

[16 Nov.] The whole of your daily record I’ve now turned into narra-
tive form and am now about to study it to avoid repetition and to give
it a natural sweep if I can.

[20 Nov.] I think it would be well, in framing official descriptions to lay
as much stress as possible on the light thrown by your discovery on
Egyptian burial ceremonial.

This suggestion was adopted by Carter and an appropriate chapter,
‘Points of Interest in Egyptian Burial Customs’, was included in the
volume. It is not a particularly comprehensive essay on funerary proce-
dures, but it derives special interest from the incorporation of references
to work carried out by Carter in the Valley of the Kings and elsewhere

23 In a letter of 13 April 1930, in Jonathan Carter’s possession; White mentions his age as
78.

24 Letters with Jonathan Carter.

395

HOWARD CARTER

before his discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. He was indeed fortunate in
having such a friend as Percy White, who could in so many ways take up
the telling of the Tutankhamun story after the sad withdrawal of Arthur
Mace.

Leaving London on 23 September, Carter travelled by way of Trieste
and Alexandria to arrive in Cairo, where he found that the management of
the Continental Hotel had put him into ‘the same room as poor Ld. C.
used to have’. The fact that he mentioned it in his diary suggests that he
was specially touched by this sensitive gesture. 25 It might have been upset-
ting to some, but Carter probably appreciated the recognition of his posi-
tion. His intention now was to get to work as soon as possible, and to this
end he went to see Edgar on 1 October and arranged to start operations
on 1 1 October. There were, however, problems. How should he proceed?
His intention was that ‘the scientific examinations should be carried out as
reverently as possible, but that I should delay rewrapping the mummy
until I knew whether the Ministers would like to inspect tire royal remains.’
He suspected that Lacau would want to be present during the examination
of the mummy, and Lacau did not plan to return to Egypt from France
until November. There were also worrying signs that the Press might be
difficult this season. The opening of the coffins and inspection of the
mummy provided sufficient bait to attract the familiar sharks.

Lacau indicated that he would expect to be at the unwrapping of the
mummy, and that he would be in Luxor by 10 November. Carter was
vexed at the prospect of delay, but he realized that there would be much
to do before the delicate work on the body could begin. But even he had
not divined what difficulties he would encounter in the following weeks.
The opening and separation of the various coffins and the removal of
the body were to test all his ingenuity and the scientific skills of Lucas.
The unwrapping of the mummy would be an exercise in stratigraphic
excavation as the various layers of bodily protection and jewellery were
investigated and unravelled. The tiresome delay would in the end provide
just about enough time to have everything ready for Lacau’s arrival in
Luxor. Prudendy Carter put off the arrival of Derry and Hamdi Bey until
10 November.

There was no time to waste. On 12 October the tomb and laboratory
were opened and found to be in excellent condition. Carter describes in
the published account 26 how ‘familiarity can never entirely dissipate the

25 In Carter’s ‘Egyptian’, i.e. working diary, G.I. Carter Notebook 1.

26 The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen, II, pp. 69ff.

396

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

feeling of mystery’, and how his first renewed viewing of the outer gilded
coffin in the sarcophagus provided an even more powerful impression
than before: “With the shadows of the ancient gods there can be no
vulgar intimacy.’ Whether composed by Carter or White, the comment
was most apposite; it has the flavour of a true Carter sentiment.

Procedures for lifting the lid of the outermost coffin had been worked
out in the preceding season, so a minimum of time was spent in starting
with the removal of the ten silver pins that secured the silver tongues
which held the lid in place on the shell of the coffin. The lid was lifted on
the 13di, to reveal a further gilded wooden coffin within; a badly decayed
and discoloured linen shroud covered this second coffin, and the
pathetic remains of floral garlands provided distinct links with the
human hands that had attended the burial so many centuries before. As
ever, Carter displayed his restraint and strict adherence to the good prac-
tices he had established earlier by halting the work until Harry Burton’s
expected arrival in Luxor. On the 15th Burton was able to photograph
the second, shrouded coffin. Already Carter was disturbed by the condi-
tion of the linen, which suggested that some form of dampness had
penetrated the burial and might have affected the mummy itself.

The next stage concerned the removal of the whole of the coffin
assemblage from the sarcophagus so that investigation would proceed
more easily than if the coffins were unpacked while still lying in the
sarcophagus. It turned out to be a relatively easy operation using lifting
tackle attached to steel pins passed through the holes which had been
used for the silver pins securing the outer lid to the shell. Wooden planks
placed across the sarcophagus provided a base on which the assemblage
could rest while the next stages were considered. The second coffin
fitted the outer coffin so snugly that only about one centimetre of space
existed between the two. Here it was only possible to withdraw the pins
securing the lid to the shell far enough to allow stout copper wire to be
attached to them. So supported the second coffin was separated from
the outermost coffin, which itself was lowered back into the sarcoph-
agus. The fragile nature of the gilded and inlaid gesso decoration on the
second coffin required the least handling possible, and it was again with
great ingenuity that the lid was removed on 23 October, revealing within
its shell the third and most magnificent coffin. A reddish shroud and
garlands covered this third coffin, and it was not until after the whole
had been photographed and the coverings removed that the excavators
realized that this innermost coffin was of solid gold. The weight of the

397

HOWARD CARTER

whole assemblage was now explained. Even so, the very idea of a solid
gold coffin was almost beyond belief, and certainly beyond Breasted’s
belief. He foolishly wrote to his wife: 27

Carter and Lacau seem to be on better terms. They have shut the
newspapers out and issue brief bulletins at long intervals. Some of
these bulletins contain arrant nonsense like the statement that the
innermost coffin is of ‘solid gold’ in a bulletin signed by both Carter
and Lacau. Of course we are all familiar with the fact that Carter does
not know the meaning of the English language. There can be no doubt
that the coffin is wood overlaid with gold. This probably heavy sheet
gold and by itself it is solid, but this is far from justifying the statement
that the coffin is of ‘solid gold’.

It was as well that Breasted did not commit himself to print on the
matter; at least no such published comment has been traced.

The second coffin shell with its contents was then taken out of the
Burial Chamber into the Antechamber for easier examination. They
found that substantial quantities of a black viscid substance, probably
sacred unguent, had been poured over the innermost coffin, fixing it
solidly in place, and when the lid had been removed, the same treatment
was found to have been given to the mummy within. Carter reckoned
that ‘something like two bucketsful of the liquid unguents had been
poured over the golden coffin, and a similar amount over the body
inside.’ 28 At this moment, and with the advice of Lucas, Carter realized
that only by the application of heat could the black viscid mass be melted
and the various components separated. He decided, therefore, that the
examination of the mummy should be carried out as it lay in the gold
coffin, itself still lying within the shell of the second coffin. It took place
as planned on 11 November. The solemn but expectant party which
gathered in the tomb of Sethos II at 9.45 a.m. differed markedly from
those that had attended the earlier ‘openings’ in the tomb. There were no
representatives of international Egyptology - no Breasted, no Gardiner
— no member of the Carnarvon family, nobody from the Metropolitan
Museum Egyptian Expedition, if Harry Burton be excepted; there were
no distinguished British archaeological grandees, or representatives from
the High Commission in Cairo. The party consisted wholly of Egyptian

27 Letter in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1925, dated 27 November.

28 The Tomb of Tutankhamen, II, p. 89.

398

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

government servants and local officials, members of the Antiquities
Service and Carter’s staff. 29 Carter lists H. E. Salah Enan Pasha, Under-
secretary of State in the Ministry of Public Works, H. E. Sayid Fuad Bey
el-Kholi, Governor of Qena Province, Pierre Lacau, Tewfik Effendi
Boulos, Chief Inspector of Upper Egypt, and Mohammed Effendi
Shabaan, Assistant Curator in the Cairo Museum; with Carter himself,
Lucas, Burton, Derry and Saleh Bey Hamdi. It may have seemed a
modest turn-out for such an important occasion, but it was as well that
there was no crush of spectators to view one of the most delicate archae-
ological operations that had ever been undertaken.

Lucas and Carter together undertook the opening up of the mummy
bandages. It was a frustrating job because of the friability of the linen
and the pervasive remains of the unguents. But gradually over four days
the work moved forward. The account given by Carter in The Tomb of
Tut. ankh. Amen, vol. II, pp. 107ff, is authoritative and clear, although it is
sometimes difficult to visualize the positions of some of die jewellery
and other objects contained within the wrappings and on the body of the
king. As the work progressed, Carter made careful notes of what was
found, and from these, and with the help of Burton’s photographs, he
subsequendy made clear, informative sketches of the various levels as the
unwrappings revealed the stages in reverse. 30 These sketches are now to
be found among the Carter papers in the Griffith Institute in Oxford. It
was a painstaking and wonderfully rewarding task, with the revelation of
splendid and unparalleled pieces at almost every stage of the work: jewel-
lery, ritual objects, pectorals, insignia, remarkable daggers. Every tech-
nique of the ancient craftsman was exemplified, every fine and precious
material available to the ancient Egyptians employed. The damage
caused by the unguents - a kind of slow combustion - and the conse-
quent deterioration of the bandages and the threadings of the jewellery,
demanded slow progress, and determined the need for many photo-
graphs as well as Carter’s notes. To clean and reconstitute the material
found on the body would provide work enough for many months in the
laboratory.

The pitiable remains of the body were removed piecemeal from the
coffin, and the head in particular caused special difficulties as it was
trapped within the great golden mask, itself held firm in the coffin by the

29 Ibid., p. 106.

30 See also N. Reeves, The Complete Tutatikhamun, pp. 1 1 6ff; the sketches are reproduced

on p. 113.

399

HOWARD CARTER

congealed ungents. Everything took time; and yet in a matter of days
Carter and Lucas succeeded in separating all the components of the nest
of coffins, using heating techniques which are terrifying to read about' 1
but certainly achieved the desired results. On 31 December Carter was
able to take to Cairo the solid gold innermost coffin and the mask — the
two most precious and perhaps the most splendid objects in the burial
equipment. Minnie Burton noted on the day:

Said goodbye to Mr. Lucas. He and Mr. Carter going to Cairo by
tonight’s train in service car with armed guard, taking the gold coffin
and mask down to the Museum.

In the weeks following the investigation of the coffins and the body,
Carter took advantage of the more relaxed relationship with the Egyp-
tian administration and the Antiquities Service to welcome groups of
resident scholars and their families to inspect the spectacular results of
the season’s work so far. He presumably cleared the visits with Tewfik
Boulos, the Chief Inspector, according to the agreement that had been
reached in the previous season. As Carter recorded in his diary entry for
28 January 1925,

It was decided that no visitors should be allowed to enter or visit the
tomb, whether Government invitees or otherwise, except on Tuesdays,
unless there be some exceptional reason or exceptional case, when I
am to refer it to the Chief Inspector who will refuse entry if he has not
received special instructions from the Government.

It was on 3 December, a Tuesday, that Minnie Burton noted a visit by
members of the Metropolitan Museum Expedition:

We all (Winlocks, Frances and Barbara, Miss Perry, Miss Bowditch,
Davieses, Mr. Meyer and Mr. Hauser and Mr. Wilkinson) went over to
the Valley to No. 15 [the laboratory] and Mr. Carter showed us the
Tutankhamen jewels — masses and masses of them, most exquisite
inlaid things, and rings, gold plaques in the shape of spread-winged
vultures, inlaid bracelets and amulets. A lovely perfume box in gold
and inlay on polished iron base [in fact, silver], and gorgeous daggers
in sheaths, one with crystal stopper handle and polished iron blade,

31 The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen, II, pp. 86ff.

400

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

very sharp. Also the gold and inlaid mask, so like Akhnaton, in the
gold coffin. Also the wonderful coffin lid, and the inlaid second
coffin, as well as the first we had already seen. We saw a hand of the
mummy widt the ring on and gold finger stalls, and the head of the
king, very small and well-preserved, lacking nose. After a lengthy stay
in No. 15 we went to the Tomb and saw the sarcophagus again, and
Mr. C. opened the door of the store chamber so that we could look in
and see the Anubis and the Canopic chest.

Shordy afterwards it was the turn of Chicago House, and Harold
Nelson included a mention in a letter of 16 December to Breasted. He
was more concerned, however, by Carter’s specific request for help: ’ 2

Carter told me that he wanted me to help him arrange in order the
inscribed pieces of the bands of inlaid hieroglyphics that run down the
front and back and around the sides of the mummy. Of course they
are mortuary texts but I am not familiar with them having read next to
nothing of such texts. I presume these are all more or less alike on the
mummies of any given period. Can you tell me off hand of any publi-
cation I might secure from Cairo which would furnish me with exam-
ples of such inscriptions that I may read up on them a little before
Carter calls on me for help? I do not want to fall down on such a job.

Breasted, who was in Cairo, recommended Maspero’s Momies Royales,
an important work on the Deir el-Bahri cache of royal mummies found
in 1881, and he arranged for a copy to be sent to Nelson.” He encour-
aged Nelson to give Carter the help he needed: ‘I should be glad ... to
have our expedition of use in the work of T’s tomb.’ He warned Nelson
that he could expect to be dropped by Carter as soon as he had what he
wanted and added, perhaps a litde gratuitously, ‘I have just received from
confidential sources in New York, the statement that Carter’s treatment
of the Metropolitan Museum has been “simply outrageous”. These are
the words of the man who has from the first been most loyal to him.’ He
then says that he could apply the same words to the treatment he had
received ‘when I paid him $10 apiece for prints of already published photo-
graphs, which I needed for my History of Egypt, the transaction being
accompanied by insolence on his part which I should be glad to forget.’

32 O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1925.

33 Same source, letter of 27 December.

401

HOWARD CARTER

Nelson should therefore be forewarned, but ought to help, even as the
Metropolitan continued to do. Nelson, in acknowledging Breasted’s
letter, 34 confessed that he had already received warnings from others
about Carter’s cavalier treatment of his helpers; but ‘as we accepted
Carter’s invitation to visit the Tomb both last year and this year, I did not
feel that I could do anything else than comply when he asked me to look
over his arrangement of the mummy bands after he had cleaned them up
properly.’

Carter’s complexity of character seemingly both antagonized people
and attracted them. There was also, of course, the draw of the tomb; to
be associated in the work was for most Egyptologists more than they
could reject, and it was worth putting up with a fair amount of boorish-
ness from Carter to be allowed to participate in the study of such
remarkable material. The guarded remarks about Carter’s outrageous
behaviour can only be treated with caution. The man who had been
‘most loyal’ to Carter might have been Albert Lythgoe or Herbert
Winlock, more probably the former. For Winlock’s view of the time it
seems proper to invoke the letter which he wrote to Edward Harkness,
an influential member of the board of trustees of the Metropolitan
Museum, on 15 April 1926. 35 Its background was set by a long, busy
winter and spring during which, since December, Carter had been wholly
taken up with the cleaning, restringing and restoring of the objects found
on the mummy of Tutankhamun. To begin he says, ‘We are just drawing
to the end of the season, in which one of the pleasantest things — among
many pleasant things — has been my relations with our friend H. C. I
know that will interest you.’ He continues by describing how things
began ‘clumsily’, and how the old H. C. appeared under the strains of
unwrapping the mummy. Carter had, however, not been pestered by the
government; but he had missed Callender. He couldn’t understand how
Callender could take his irritability so seriously; although he did call it his
“worse disease’. On the recovery of the jewellery, Winlock had this to say:

Burton took a great many photographs of the things in position, and
Carter, I believe, took adequate notes. From the photographs and
notes he has made a most ingenious series of diagrams showing the
position of each object on the body. They are wonderfully clear, and I
believe that no one will be able to complain of any lack of information

34 Same source, letter of 31 December.

35 Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

402

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

in his record.

The winter has gone, really, in the restoration of the jewelery, and at
that, Carter is really incomparable. He is a wonderfully neat worker,
and with his fingers of an artist there is no better person to whom this
stuff could have been entrusted.

Winlock then describes some pieces of jewellery and comments on the
mummy and the view, which he shares with Carter, that Tutankhamun
was the son of Akhenaten by one of the lesser ladies of the harem.
Returning to Carter and his behaviour during the season, he concludes:

All together, the way I sum it up he has been better off alone — or
rather with only Lucas — this winter. Most of the work has been
cleaning and restoring the minute details in the jewellery, and, as I
wrote above, there is no one who can touch him on that.

Winlock’s opinion at this point represents an important testimony of
Carter’s professional competence, especially as it came after a time of
difficulties between the two. Further it was made when Winlock surely
still had in mind the quite special abilities of Arthur Mace, who had first
been offered to Carter for precisely the kind of intricate work which
Carter was now executing so supremely well. It would be impossible —
and indeed very unfair - to try to place Carter and Mace in an order of
competence; but it is fair to believe that Winlock reckoned that Carter’s
abilities measured up well against those that Mace had displayed so
miraculously in the reconstitution of the material from Senebtisi’s tomb
before the Great War.

Carter had not been quite as alone during the season as Winlock stated
in his letter. Apart from Lucas and Burton, he had with him for some
weeks Dr Harold Plenderleith, the assistant of Dr Alexander Scott of the
British Museum, who subsequently succeeded Scott as Keeper of the
Research Laboratory, and in 1959 became the first Director of the Inter-
national Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of
Cultural Property, in Rome. He came to Thebes to continue the work
started by Scott in 1924, and he collected samples of many materials for
later examination and analysis in the laboratory of the British Museum
and elsewhere. He remained a living link with the days of active work in
the laboratory of tomb No. 15, and some of his memories of working
with Carter both in Egypt and in London are drawn on later in this

403

HOWARD CARTER

volume. 36 He worked closely with Lucas, who was responsible for the
systematic examination of the objects from a scientific point of view, and
Carter was, as he remembers, very kind to him. This attitude he does not
attribute to Carter’s natural benevolence, but to his desire to extract as
much information as possible from Plenderleith without Lucas’s
knowing, so that he could confound Lucas with what might appear to be
his own percipience.

At that time, when the scientific and archaeological study of the
objects from the tomb began to assume great importance in the scheme
of Carter’s work, he spared no pains to obtain the best advice on a wide
range of materials and techniques. The second and third volumes of The
Tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen include valuable appendices containing some of
the results of the scientific studies made during the clearance of the
tomb. They represent only a small part of the work that was carried out
in many laboratories and research institutes both at that time and during
the 1930s. Samplings of the rich organic and metal materials in the tomb
in particular were made available on a generous level. Alexander Scott,
for example, mentions a quantity of about 450 grams of a cosmetic
substance in one alabaster vase, which allowed ample sampling for exper-
imental purposes. 37 Carter himself was assiduous in seeking competent
researchers, and many of the findings resulting from their work are to be
found in the voluminous notes he gathered in readiness for the final
scholarly report on the tomb, which he planned to prepare when the
clearance of all the chambers was completed. Lucas in due course incor-
porated much of his own work in the later revisions of his Ancient Egyp-
tian Materials and Industries', but the scientific material remaining
unpublished, including work that could still be carried out on the objects
from the tomb, could generate studies of major importance. 38

The great disappointment of the tomb was the state of the royal body.
As a result of the corrosive and apparently combustible effects of the
unguents which were poured so lavishly over the body, there was far less
left for Derry and Saleh Hamdi to examine than had been hoped for.
They had based their expectations on the condition of the royal bodies
found in the Deir el-Bahri cache, which were in very much better condi-
tion than that of Tutankhamun. As Carter pointed out, the bodies from

36 I was able to talk at length with Dr Plenderleith in the autumn of 1989. He died in
1997.

37 The Tomb of Tutankhamen, II, p. 207.

38 E.g. Nigel Hepper, Tharaoh’s Flowers (London, 1990).

404

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

the cache had been desecrated, rescued, cleaned and rebandaged within a
relatively short time after their original burials, and before the unguents
had been able to cause the damage found on Tutankhamun’s body after
the 3000 years of undisturbed burial.

From their initial investigations, Derry and Saleh Hamdi ‘declared the
age of the young king to be about eighteen years’. So Carter reported in
his diary entry for 15 November. On the following day, after the rela-
tively well preserved head had, with considerable difficulty, been partly
extracted from its awkward position within the mask, he commented,

Sufficient of the head was exposed today to show us that Tut-ankh-

Amen was of a type exceedingly refined and cultured. The face has

beautiful and well formed features.

Derry further concluded that at the time of his death Tutankhamun was
about 1.676m tall (5ft 6in.) and that the body showed no indications of
cause of death. Subsequent examinations and studies of the body have
substantially confirmed the findings of the specialists, except that
Professor R. G. Harrison’s investigations of 1968 revealed a small frag-
ment of skull bone within the cranial cavity. 39 On the basis of this appar-
ently antemortem damage it has been suggested that the king was killed
by a blow to the head - a conclusion which should perhaps be taken with
suitable caution. Derry’s final report on the autopsy of the body, rather
more scientifically expressed and considerably fuller than the more
general account in Appendix I of Carter’s second volume, was finally
published in 1972. 411

The strain which Winlock noted had threatened to upset the new and
welcome equanimity displayed by Carter during the 1 925-6 season led to
a deterioration in his health in the New Year. In February he decided to
run up to Aswan for a rest. Breasted remarked in a letter to his son
Charles that ‘He is in very bad health. 41 ’ This was written on 17 February,
and on the 23rd he wrote to Mrs John D. Rockefeller Jr that he had taken
the Misses Aldrich and McFadden to see the royal tombs, including that
of Tutankhamun. 4- Did he arrange it while Carter was away? Or did he
swallow his pride and ask permission from Carter in order to gratify his

39 R. G. Harrison and A. G. Abdalla, in Antiquity 46 (1972), pp. 8ff

40 F. F. Leek, The Human Remains from the Tomb of Tut ‘ankhamun (Oxford, 1972).

41 O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1926.

42 Same source.

405

HOWARD CARTER

guests? It is unlikely that they queued to see the tomb along with the
general public. Carter is not mentioned as being about. Yet they were
able to enter the tomb and ‘stand looking down into the deep monolithic
sarcophagus of Tutenkhamon and to see lying within, the golden figure
of the King stretched out full length and forming the lid of the coffin.’ It
is just possible that he was romancing a litde, as he certainly was later in
the same letter. He comments imaginatively on the burial, and on the
third ‘solid gold coffin’ (as he now conceded) and the golden mask,
which for him showed ‘clearly the face of a sensitive youth, a Hamlet
totally unequal to the crushing responsibilities he was called upon to
bear.’

Howard Carter was not one to complain openly about his health. His
inclination if he were not well was to withdraw from public gaze like a
wounded animal. A small reflection of the strain he was under during
this long and exhausting season comes out in a letter he wrote on 26
February to his uncle, Henry William Carter, who was six years younger
than Howard Carter’s father, and 85 in 1926. Howard’s letter is preserved
as a copy included in another letter written on 9 March by Henry to his
slighdy older brother James (Jim) and his wife Margaret (Mag). 4 ’ Henry
mentions a recent visit by William Carter, Howard’s brother, who was
‘very cut up by Polly’s [his wife Mary] death, been married 42 years.’ The
various small errors in the transcript may be evenly attributed to Howard
and Henry. A family letter of this kind by Howard Carter is exceptionally
rare at this period:

My dear Uncle,

Thank you indeed for your kind and appreciative letter.

I was lucky to get such fine results, the jewelry, some 200 pieces, that
were enclosed with the wrappings of the young King is also very
magnificent as well as being very interesting, showing the origin of
much of earlier Mediterranean material. Unfortunately due to decom-
position of the consecration oils that were poured over the mummy by
producing fatty acids much discolorisation was set up with the result
the jewelly require much careful cleaning which will take us into the
late spring and will prevent further investigations for some time in the
two remaining chambers hitherto untouched. Again the mass of visi-
tors that are now inundating Luxor allow one little time for work. Still
next month I hope to be quiet and get back to real work again.

43 A copy with Jonathan Carter.

406

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

To have one’s workshop a sort of prowl and pilgrimage is certainly a
bore and one would like to escape.

There have been over 9,000 people to see the Tomb since Jan. 2nd
(Dxxxx !!!)

Best wishes to all and again sincere thanks for your kind thoughts.

Yrs

Howard

Work on the jewellery and coffins continued until early May. Then
followed a few days packing the objects for Cairo, and on the 7th Carter
was able to hand over the tombs in the Valley to the care of Tewfik
Boulos. He left for Cairo on the 8th and spent the following two weeks
supervising the unpacking in the Cairo Museum and in winding down
with friends and making official visits. Back in England on 28 May, he
was soon faced with the difficult problem of the sale of the Carnarvon
collection.

Before dealing with that awkward issue he made a special visit to see
Arthur Mace, whose health remained seriously impaired. There was
surely some wistful envy in the words Mace wrote on 3 July to Albert
Lythgoe in the Metropolitan Museum: 44

Carter came down a few days after he got back looking extremely fit
and well. How does he do it? He has extraordinary recuperative
powers, and I realize now how unnecessary it is for anyone to try and
shoulder his worries for him.

This may have been the last occasion on which Carter saw Mace. They
were both closely linked by the experience of Tutankhamun, and also by
early apprenticeships with Flinders Petrie (of whom Mace was a cousin).
They would have had much to talk about, although there is little indica-
tion that there was great warmth of feeling in their relationship.

As for the Carnarvon collection, it may be recalled that a codicil to
Lord Carnarvon’s will specified:

Should she [Lady Carnarvon] find it necessary to sell the collection, I
suggest that the nation — i.e. the British Museum — be given the first
refusal at £20,000, far below its value. . . . Otherwise, I would suggest

44 M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files. This reference was pointed out to
me by Christopher Lee.

407

HOWARD CARTER

that the collection be offered to the Metropolitan, New York, Mr.
Carter to have charge of the negotiations and to fix the price.

Should my wife decide to keep the collection, I leave it absolutely to
her whether she leaves it to my son or to the nation, or to Evelyn
Herbert. I suggest, however, that she consult Dr. Gardiner and Mr.
Carter on the subject.

From the wording of this codicil it is clear that the Countess of
Carnarvon had ultimately a free hand in the disposal of the collection if
she decided not to keep it. It is difficult to determine what Howard
Carter’s own position was towards the fate of the collection which he had
been instrumental in putting together. He had no strong attachment to
the British Museum. He was on good terms with H. R. H. Hall who had
succeeded Sir Wallis Budge as Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiqui-
ties in 1924; but the relationship was not as close as that between
Carnarvon and Budge had been. The case with the Metropolitan
Museum was very different. Since long before the Great War, Carter had
worked in Thebes as an archaeological neighbour of that museum’s
Egyptian Expedition in Deir el-Bahri; he was nearly always welcome at
their hospitable headquarters house in Thebes; and he had become since
the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb indebted to a major extent to the
Metropolitan Museum for invaluable aid. The direct contributions of the
members of the Egyptian Expedition to his work had transformed his
scientific capability; the friendship of most of the large staff and their
families had sustained him through some very difficult times; Herbert
Winlock had done as much as anyone (except perhaps Georges Merz-
bach) to help resolve his difficulties in 1924; he was on very friendly
terms with several of the museum’s trustees, particularly Edward Hark-
ness; he could count Edward Robinson, the museum’s director, as a
personal friend. It would not have been surprising, therefore, if Carter
had nursed a predilection for the sale of die Carnarvon collection to the
Metropolitan Museum. He could further have argued that its acquisition
by New York would form a handsome compensation for all that had
been so readily done for the Carnarvon expedition; particularly as the
original expectation of the museum’s acquiring objects from
Tutankhamun’s tomb had by 1926 faded to a possible — but by no means
certain — share in the promised gift of duplicates to Lady Carnarvon.

The attitude of Almina, Countess of Carnarvon, to the collection was
archaeologically and artistically indifferent; she may also have seen it as a

408

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

constant reminder of her husband’s work in Egypt and possibly contam-
inated in some way with the supposed curse of Tutankhamun, to which
his death was ascribed by the superstitious and the imaginative. It will be
remembered that Carter had in 1924 packed up the collection rather
unceremoniously and deposited it in the Bank of England. There can be
no doubt that the immediate Carnarvon family had very uncertain feel-
ings about Tutankhamun, and the 6th Earl would not have his name
uttered at Highclere for many years. It was not surprising, therefore, that
Lady Carnarvon decided to sell the collection, and called on a reluctant
Howard Carter to help. In August 1926 he prepared a document setting
out the history of the collection after Carnarvon’s death, and he sent a
copy to his old friend Percy Newberry. It was, as it seems, a document
explaining and justifying Carter’s involvement, but it also contains quite
forthright statements about his own feelings concerning what happened
in the end. 4 ’ The stages are set out annually:

1924

Contrary to my advice, and I believe the wish of the present Lord
Carnarvon the collection was removed (packed by me, in accordance
with instructions from Almina, Countess of Carnarvon) from High-
clere Castle where it was housed in glass cases.

Special cases were designed and made at large expense behind the
oak panelling at 1 , Seamore Place, to receive the collection.

When the collection was transported by motor from Highclere to
London, it was placed in the Bank of England (Burlington Gardens),
instead of in the glass cases prepared for it in Seamore Place.

1925

When I returned from Egypt (Spring 1925), I found that it had been
arranged to sell the collection at Sotheby’s, and that dates had been
allotted for that season for the sale.

I took immediate steps to prevent this sale, and with Almina, Coun-
tess of Carnarvon’s sanction I instructed Sotheby’s representatives to
cancel any arrangements made in this connection.

1926

Notwithstanding my advice, and my earnest appeal, soon after my
return from Egypt (May 1926), I was requested by Almina, Countess

45 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/82.

409

HOWARD CARTER

of Carnarvon, and by her lawyers, to sell the collection to Sir Joseph
Duveen, failing this I was instructed to place the collection for sale at
Sotheby’s as early as possible in July (1926). I was also told that if I did
not act, Almina would do so herself.

With regard to sale at Sotheby’s, I represented that to put a collec-
tion of that kind up to auction at so short a notice would be out of the
question. With reference to its sale to Sir Joseph Duveen, though I
opened negotiations with Sir Joseph, I was careful that those negotia-
tions failed. And as all my representations to Almina, Countess of
Carnarvon were of no avail, she not allowing me to offer the collec-
tion to the British Museum, I urged her to allow me to offer it in its
entirety to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, — to this
Almina acquiesced.

H.C. August 1 926

From this document it would seem that no approach was made to the
British Museum in accordance with the Earl of Carnarvon’s suggestion
in his will. It is, however, generally thought that some member of the
firm Frere Cholmeley and Co., the Carnarvon (and Carter) solicitors,
called at short notice on Sir Frederick Kenyon, the Director of the
British Museum, to offer the collection for purchase; a decision would be
required later the same day. No documentary evidence has been traced in
the museum archives to support this visit and offer, and it might be ques-
tioned whether, as stated here simply, the visit ever took place. A deci-
sion on a substantial purchase could not have been made at short notice
without the approval of the Trustees, and it may be doubted whether
funds on a sufficient scale would have been available. The summer
months represented, generally speaking, a period of inactivity as far as
museum purchases were concerned, for the Trustees did not meet
between July and late September. An approach at short notice, therefore,
would certainly have been a calculated move to ensure that the British
Museum would not buy, while satisfying in small degree the suggestion
in Lord Carnarvon’s will. Even so, it would surely have seemed to be in
the circumstances a very crude tactic, designed not just to avoid such a
sale to the ‘nation’, but to ensure that a better price could be obtained
from America.

That the Museum might have been interested in acquiring the
Carnarvon collection should not be in doubt. Alan Gardiner later

410

THE ROYAL BODY, WITH REVERENCE

claimed that ‘Almina . . . promised me faithfully to present the Carnarvon
collection to the B.M.’ 46 Gardiner had, after all been recommended as
one of the advisers in the matter by Lord Carnarvon. Further, S. R. K.
Glanville, an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Egyptian and
Assyrian Antiquities, wrote to Percy Newberry about the Museum’s posi-
tion: 47 ‘Hall thinks there is little he could do as the annual grant is practi-
cally absorbed in anticipation ahead, for the next three years’.
Nevertheless he would like very much to talk to Newberry about it. Such
expressions of hope could have had no effect, and in fact there was little
that could be done at departmental level in the Museum. And so, for
$145,000 - more, but not greatly more, than the £20,000 suggested by
Carnarvon — the collection went to the Metropolitan Museum, forming
an acquisition which over the years has been seen as one of increasing
value and interest, not least for the large numbers of excavated pieces of
fine quality that it contains.

Much has been made of the handful of objects in the Carnarvon
collection which may have been taken from Tutankhamun’s tomb. The
matter of removals from the tomb will be discussed briefly later in this
book. At this point it may be noted that no object bearing
Tutankhamun’s name was included in the collection that went to New
York. If Carnarvon had taken objects ‘on account’ from the tomb, it
would have been surprising if they had not included some inscribed
pieces. It seems possible to suggest that if there were objects inscribed
with the king’s name in the Carnarvon collection, they were extracted by
Carter before the collection was packed and sent to the Bank of England
in 1924. At that point, and indeed in 1926, the possibility still existed that
some of the pieces from the tomb might be given to Lady Carnarvon.
But the presence of objects quite clearly traceable to the tomb would
have been an embarrassment to the Metropolitan Museum (or, indeed,
the British Museum) had they been included in the purchase of the
Carnarvon collection. The fate of the inscribed Tutankhamun objects in
Carter’s possession at the time of his death will be dealt with later. 48

46 Letter to Newberry of 3 November 1943, G.I. Newberry Corr. 18/118.

47 Letter of 14 June 1926, in G.I. Newberry Corr. 17/39.

48 See p. 469 below.

411

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

After the first opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun it had been evident
to Howard Carter that its clearance could not be rushed and that the task
would be spread over several seasons. Initially he may have thought in
terms of three full campaigns and indeed, after the prompt and efficient
clearing of the Antechamber in a few months, his early estimations might
not have appeared too optimistic. But after the rapid progress during the
first season, problems arose which made any speedy completion impos-
sible. Even without the difficulties with the Government and the Antiq-
uities Service, the death of Lord Carnarvon and the withdrawal of
Arthur Mace, the complexities of die work demanded delays and a slow
pace. The dismantling of the shrines in the Burial Chamber turned out to
be far more awkward than expected; the archaeology of the nest of
coffins and the mummy was fraught with difficulties, and was far more
complicated than anyone could have conceived. Furthermore, the condi-
tion of many objects removed from the tomb, while being in most cases
remarkable after 3000 years of burial, required individual attention,
including cleaning, conservation and repair to an unparalleled degree. No
stage of the work in the tomb could proceed while the back-log of pieces
waiting for attention in tomb No. 15 remained large. Nevertheless,
Carter could hope, when he returned to Egypt in late September 1926,
that perhaps no more than two full seasons would see the end of his
labours.

A pattern of work in the tomb and the laboratory was established in
the season of 1 925—6 — although certainly not seen as such at the time —
which was followed in subsequent seasons. It represented an arrange-
ment which suited both the requirements of the excavators and the
needs of the visitors to Luxor. At that time the tourist season did not
seriously start until after Christmas, so that the months of autumn and

412

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

early winter were available for concentrated work free from the need to
consider others apart from official and professional visitors. So by
arriving in September Carter could hope for three clear months to work
uninterruptedly in the tomb. The time after the turn of the year could
then be spent on intensive work in the tomb of Sethos II, the laboratory
tomb No. 15, where Alfred Lucas would already be deep into his
season’s labours. On 29 September Carter arranged his plan for the
coming months with Edgar in the Cairo Museum. 1 He would begin with
the deblaiement, ‘clearance’ (as he now liked to describe his work, as
opposed to fouilles, ‘excavation’) of the room opening off the Burial
Chamber. He still called this room the Store Chamber, but he was soon
to realize that its purpose was less prosaic than simple storage, and he
renamed it the Innermost Treasury, or more commonly the Treasury.
The tomb, it was agreed, would be opened to the public on 1 January
1927, and would remain available for visitors on three days a week until
mid-March.

Back in Luxor with Lucas, Carter opened up the laboratory tomb on 7
October and was horrified to discover that rats had burrowed under the
entrance. ‘A little sand placed at the base [of the gate] would have
prevented this. Luckily very little harm had been done by the rats, which
is fortunate, as it might have been far worse.’ Indeed it might well have
been so, for much ancient material was stored in the tomb, including
gilded wooden coffins and the royal body. The first task was to prepare
the outermost coffin and the body for replacement in the tomb. This
was accomplished on 23 October, and the king lay again, denuded of his
treasures but respectfully treated, in a coffin within the great quartzite
sarcophagus, where he still lies today, the only king to occupy his own
coffin in his original burial place in the Valley of the Kings. The cere-
mony was carried out by Carter and Lucas, just with the help of their
workmen, and with the minimum of formality. Carter was inclined to
write solemnly of the feelings of awe and respect which struck him at
moments in his excavation of the tomb which seemed to require solem-
nity. But the practicalities of moving and replacing objects needed to be
carried out in as efficient a manner as possible, without the attendance of
a lector-priest reading out the appropriate spells of the ancient rituals.

On the following day, the 24th, he would at last turn his attention to
the Treasury, which had effectively been closed since the opening of the

1 The details of the successive seasons’ work are taken from Carter’s excavation diary,

G.I. Carter Notebook 1.

413

HOWARD CARTER

Burial Chamber. It is certain that Carter had from time to time opened
up this room and shown it to visitors, but he had, with immense
restraint, held back from disturbing the contents until he could deal with
them as systematically as those in the Antechamber and the Burial
Chamber. These two first rooms were not wholly clear at this time; parts
of the dismantled shrines that had surrounded the sarcophagus remained
stacked against the walls, waiting for removal and treatment when all else
had been taken from the tomb. Priority now rested with the objects in
the Treasury and those in the so-called Annexe, the room leading out of
the Antechamber. It was the beginning of a slow and tedious operation
which would extend until the spring of 1928 - a long and steady plod,
which would then be extended even further until the tomb was finally
cleared and the last object conserved and sent down to Cairo in 1932.

There would, however, be huge rewards for the patient workers as
objects of unique and particular beauty and grandeur were brought out
objects previously glimpsed in some cases, but in others yet to be revealed
by the opening of shrines and boxes. First to come out was the portable
shrine topped by the great black Anubis jackal shrouded in linen, the deity
of the Necropolis, guarding the precious contents of the Treasury, a figure
that had made such an impression on the first visitors to the tomb after
the opening of the Burial Chamber. Carter was fascinated by this figure.
He was well acquainted with the local Theban jackals, and recalled in his
diary note for 27 October the pair of jackals he had seen in May, earlier in
the year. The note he wrote reveals clearly his abiding interest in natural
history, and his excellent powers of observation:

In the hills above my house at Elwat e’Diban, Western Thebes, I saw a
pair of jackals about 6 pm making their way towards the cultivated land.
They probably had cubs in the hills as otherwise it was early for them to
descend to inhabited and cultivated quarters. But the great interest was,
while one of them was of normal size and colouring, the other — I was
unable to tell whether dog or bitch, as they did not approach nearer
than 250 yds - was totally black, much taller and attenuated, resem-
bling, though tail not quite so bushy, the type inpw [the ancient Egyp-
tian word for Anubis] as found upon the monuments. This is the first
example of this colouring and of that line of jackal I have seen in Egypt
over 35 years experience in the desert, and it suggested to me, unless
the black jackal is known, a sport of the old and original Egyptian jackal
only now known to us as Anubis. is what it appeared like through

414

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

my Zeiss glasses, while the other was a much stouter and smaller animal
of normal colouring — a grisly grey brown.

He then reports the opinion he had been able to discover from asking
local people. Individual black specimens were known to them ‘always
more slender, of the slughi (greyhound) type, as compared with the
grimly or red species.’ His fascination with the possibility that a ‘sport’ or
‘throwback’ of jackal, the original of the Anubis-creature, still survived
was fuelled by a further sighting he made on 22 October 1928:

I had an interesting experience. When driving up the Valley (8 am), I
saw, quite near the car (not more than twenty yards away) a seven to
ten month old jackal. Quite black (perhaps a few grey hairs under the
abdomen); long muzzle; large pointed ears; and of the attenuated form
of the Ancient Egyptian Anubis-animal. But the tail though drooping
was shorter than that represented by the God.

His mention of the sightings of black jackals in the third volume of The
Tomb ofTut.ankh~Amen (pp. 43£), inspires a few general comments, but it
may be supposed that, had he been able to proceed to a full publication
of the tomb’s contents, a much fuller zoological treatment would have
been included.

It was good, but quite characteristic of him, that he could be diverted
in his work by considerations of this kind. His notes on the objects
brought from the tomb chambers are frequently enlivened by ‘imme-
diate’ comments, not all by any means apposite or even correct, but
revealing a lively mind stocked with much material, particularly ornitho-
logical and zoological as well as archaeological. Some of these comments
were incorporated into the narrative of his three-volume popular publi-
cation. The second volume was published in early 1927, very much
formed by Percy White’s authorial and editorial skills. It took the story of
the excavation up to the end of the clearance of the Burial Chamber, and
the work on the coffins and the body. The third and final volume would
not appear until 1933.

Although the Treasury was a small chamber, barely 15Vi by 12 Vi ft and
7 Vi ft high (more precisely 4.75 m by 3.8 m by 2.33 m), it contained a
huge quantity of mostly funerary material, arranged by Carter into 75
groups and comprising well over 500 important pieces, as well as many
small and fragmentary things. There was a far greater sense of order in

415

HOWARD CARTER

the arrangement of the various boxes, baskets and individual items, even
though the room had been worked through by the thieves who had made
such a confusion in the Antechamber and the Annexe. It is just possible
that in the Burial Chamber and Treasury, in the presence of the royal
burial itself and so much intimately associated material, an element of
awe affected the thieves and inhibited a general rifling of the funerary
equipment. Many of the boxes had been opened and their most intrinsi-
cally valuable objects removed, but the Necropolis guards in their
perfunctory repacking had restored at least a kind of order.

The dominating object in the Treasury was the magnificent Canopic
shrine with its four exquisite figures of Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selkis.
Simple inspection had given no hint of what it might contain, and its
careful investigation would be delayed for the time being. After the
removal of the jackal-shrine there were objects enough to keep Carter
and Lucas busy for many months. Their labours were relieved to some
extent by die arrival on 31 October of Henri Landauer, a young assistant
possibly introduced by Pierre Lacau, who would have seen the advantage
of having someone learn from watching and helping the Carter-Lucas
team in the work in the laboratory. Carter gives no indication of Land-
auer’s character or abilities, but he may have welcomed his help. From
Carter’s diaries it is clear that the young assistant stayed until mid-April
1927 and returned for the following season, staying from late November
1927 until mid-April again.

The steady clearance of individual items and boxes from the Treasury
continued until the end of the year which was notably marked on 31
December by the visit of King Fuad to inspect the tomb and the objects
in the laboratory. Carter had seen the King in audience in January 1925
before he concluded his negotiations with the government of Ziwar
Pasha for his return to the Valley. On that occasion he noted that his
conversation with the King Svas only very superficial’, although ‘His
Majesty was most cordial’. Now Carter reported that the King ‘seemed
well pleased with results.’ On the following day the tomb was opened for
tourists, who were able to visit on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
from 9 o’clock to noon, and so until 31 March. For Carter, Lucas and
Landauer, the tomb of Sethos II would be their primary place of work
until mid-April. They would be joined, whenever necessary, by Harry
Burton, who had now returned to work principally with the Metropol-
itan Museum team in Deir el-Bahri. This was the new arrangement,
which suited the requirements of both expeditions.

416

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

On 1 6 April the antiquities which had been conserved were sent down
to Cairo, and Carter followed on the 24th, staying in the Residency until
he left for England on the 29th. This was the first occasion for him to
enjoy such official hospitality from the High Commission. Lord Allenby
had been succeeded by Lord Lloyd in 1925. He had served in Egypt in
the Arab Bureau during the Great War, and had known High Commis-
sion staff like Ronald Storrs. At this time he might have got to know
Carter during his period of employment with the Intelligence Service. An
old acquaintanceship of this kind may have led to Carter’s invitation to
stay at the Residency. It was also the case that his position was now better
established than in the earlier days of the Tutankhamun excavation; he
was then Carnarvon’s man and, after the latter’s death, the man who
caused so much trouble with the new Egyptian government. By 1927
with his work in Thebes based on a less controversial footing, Carter was
a man of more accepted status in the British community in Egypt. He
was indeed quite respectable, and was seen as someone who could be
trusted to maintain good standards of behaviour in the presence of
important and distinguished people. Throughout his career he had been
accustomed to mix with members of high society, but almost always in a
rather subservient role. Now things were rather different, and he would
be seen as someone quite suitable to attend Her Royal Highness Princess
Mary, the Princess Royal, when she came to Luxor with her husband for
a four-day visit in late March 1928. She subsequently sent Carter a signed
photograph in gratitude for his services. 2

It may have been during his stay in the Residency that Carter was able
to engage the High Commissioner’s interest in the question of some
form of compensation for Lady Carnarvon, either in the ‘form of a gift
of duplicate objects - as promised by the Ziwar administration — or a
financial settlement. The politics of Egypt were excessively tortuous at
the time, and while civil disturbance did not form part of the pattern, it
looked inevitable that the Wafd party would remain the most powerful
and popular element in Egyptian political life for die foreseeable future.
At that moment there was no evident threat to the continuation of
Carter’s work on the lines of the agreement of early 1925, but he himself
sensibly refrained from raising the matter of a settlement. There is
evidence, however, that moves were beginning to be made on the diplo-
matic level to see whether some accommodation could be reached by
which a selection of objects from the tomb might be presented, or even

2 With Jonathan Carter.

417

HOWARD CARTER

given in exchange for some financial consideration, to the British
Museum. 1 Unfortunately, the path of the negotiations is not clear, and
Carter’s own surviving papers give no concrete information about the
various moves that were being made in the later 1920s before the ulti-
mate financial settlement of 1930 was reached.

By mid-September 1 927 Howard Carter was back in Cairo, apparently
eager to continue his work of deblaiement as expeditiously as possible. He
was by nature not a man to hasten his work without proper preparation
and care; he possessed unlimited determination, and the task of clear-
ance was one which suited his temperament. Progress might be slow, but
it was appreciable, and the excavators were encouraged by the regular
revelation of objects of beauty and interest as they emerged from the
boxes and black-painted shrines of the Treasury. Carter could now see a
terminus to his labours, and an early start would move things forward.
Harold Nelson ran into Carter in Cairo, and reported to Breasted: 3 4

Carter and Lucas are going up on the same train as us. Carter tells me
he hopes to finish the removal of the remaining objects from the tomb
this season, with the exception of the shrine.

With this intention in mind Carter arranged his programme and signed
his concession for the season with Henri Gauthier, the new Secretary-
General of the Antiquities Service, on 1 5 September, and on the 24th he
inspected the laboratory tomb which, happily, was this year ‘free from
dust, insects and rats’.

The tomb of Tutankhamun itself was opened on 6 October, and it
took only two days to complete the clearance of the Treasury with the
exception of the Canopic shrine and three boats. A week passed before
Harry Burton arrived in Luxor and was able to catch up on photo-
graphing what had been removed already to the laboratory. It was a suit-
able moment to pause and dispose of as much work as possible before
the clearance of the Annexe was started.

Problems and mysteries were not uncommon in the tomb of
Tutankhamun, and two connected with objects in the Treasury may be
specially mentioned. The first was presented by a simple wooden box
which contained two miniature anthropoid coffins, each of which
contained smaller coffins holding mummified foetuses; one, probably

3 E.g. file FO 141, 619/121 in the Public Records Office.

4 Letter of 19 September in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1927.

418

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

female, was about five months into gestation; the other, also probably
female, was at about the seventh-month stage of gestation. The care that
had been lavished on these two tiny premature babies - homunculae is
the word that springs to mind — makes it most probable that they were
the ill-timed offspring of Tutankhamun and his wife Ankhesenamun,
possibly the last direct, but tenuous, links with the family of King Amen-
ophis III. What hopes died with these pathetic still-born infants! And yet
it was felt right that they should be given proper post-mortem treatment
for children of royal birth, and buried close to the body of their father,
the divine King Tutankhamun . 5

The second mystery was revealed when the Canopic shrine was
dismanded. Inside there was a splendid monolithic chest of Egyptian
alabaster with a characteristic sloping lid, the whole covered by a fine
linen shroud. When the lid was removed, four cylindrical depressions
were found, each stoppered with a sensitively carved royal head, and
each containing a miniature coffin of gold inlaid with glass and semi-
precious stones. These coffins held the embalmed internal organs of the
king; they were the equivalents of the Canopic jars commonly found in
contemporary burials. The stoppers are now generally thought, on
stylistic grounds, not to represent Tutankhamun, while the small Canopic
coffins are similarly inconsistent stylistically, and also show traces of
changes in their inscriptions, with alterations to the royal names in the
cartouches. These discrepancies were not at first noticed by Carter, but
subsequent examination revealed these problems of identification, which
extend in fact to other objects in the funeral provision. These facts
suggested that certain second-hand items or, more precisely, unused
pieces from earlier projected burials, were included in the equipment,
perhaps because the king’s death had been unexpected and there was
insufficient time to make all the necessary pieces . 6

In some respects the Annexe presented the archaeologists - or should
they now be called deblajeurs ? — with greater difficulties than they had
previously experienced. The problems were caused not just by the depre-
dations of the tomb-robbers and the failure of the Necropolis guards to
do more than very superficial tidying-up. It became clear in due course,
when the room had been cleared and Carter had the opportunity to

5 See H. Carter, The Tomb of Tut. an kh. Amen, III (London, 1933), Appx I; F. F. Leek, The
Human Remains from the Tomb of Tufankhamun (Oxford, 1972), pp. 21 f£; N. Reeves, The
Complete Tutankhamun (London, 1990), pp. 123f.

6 Generally, see N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun , p. 122.

419

HOWARD CARTER

study the positions of the object and their order of placing in the room,
that its primary purpose had been modified when the tomb was being
stocked at the time of the king’s burial . 7 Carter, knowing the general plan
of the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, attempted to reconcile the
unusual lay-out of Tutankhamun’s tomb with the common, if not
standard, scheme. Any solution of the question was necessarily tentative,
especially as the tomb in question was not designed for Tutankhamun,
and probably not for a royal person. In a more conventionally designed
royal tomb the approach corridor ends in a pillared hall, beyond which,
at lower level, is the burial chamber with sarcophagus. Side rooms open
on each side of the hall and of the sarcophagus area. In Tutankhamun’s
tomb, the entrance corridor leads to the Antechamber (using Carter’s
terminology), representing the pillared hall, beyond which, at lower level,
is the Burial Chamber. The Annexe and the Treasury take the place of
the rooms opening off the pillared hall and sarcophagus area.

The rooms opening off the pillared hall were conventionally used to
hold the materials required for the daily well-being of the dead king -
food and drink and oils in particular. Such, therefore, should have made
up the contents of the Annexe. As it was found, however, the room
contained a huge quantity of what might be termed extraneous objects,
many of which were similar to objects found principally in the Ante-
chamber. There were beds and other pieces of furniture, some of them
quite splendid in their decoration and workmanship, like the one Carter
called tire king’s ‘Ecclesiastical Throne’, a ceremonial object in the form
of a folding chair, although of fixed construction, with a seat simulating
an animal skin and an intricately decorated back. There were many
smaller pieces of furniture, boxes containing confusing collections of
personal objects, all rifled and summarily repacked. There were even
.r/wfe-figures, the small mummiform figures which would act for the king
in the after-life, and belonging properly to the equipment in the Treasury.
The objects which could strictly be regarded as right for the store-room
were at the bottom of the pile, and listed by Carter as ‘nearly forty
pottery wine jars ... on the floor at the northern end of this Annexe;
next to these ... at least thirty-five heavy alabaster vessels containing oils
and unguents; stacked beside them, some even on top . . . one hundred
and sixteen baskets of fruits . 8

7 On the Annexe and its clearance, see 1 he Tomb ofTut.cmkh.Amen, III, pp. 98ff.

8 Ibid., p. 104.

420

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

The disordered piles of furniture and other objects on top of the food,
drink and oils, rose to a height of almost two metres, and many pieces
were balanced precariously. The experience gained in the earlier stages of
the tomb’s clearance proved invaluable for the Annexe. Numbers were
assigned to objects and groups of objects, and photographs were taken
of the contents with and without their numbers before any attempt was
made to take anything away. Again experience ensured success; and it
was now allied with the supreme skill that Carter and Lucas had devel-
oped over the preceding five years in handling delicate material. To begin
was die most difficult part because the entrance was small and deep, and
the floor of the Annexe was almost a metre below the level of the Ante-
chamber; it was impossible at first to find space on which to stand.
Consequently, whoever worked to remove the initial objects had to bend
low and lean forward with outstretched arms over the heaped-up
contents, and he was supported in this unnatural position by a rope sling
passed around the body under the arm-pits. 9 So the clearance began in
the last days of November, and continued uninterruptedly until it was
completed, according to Carter’s excavation diary, on 15 December.
There were 283 groups of objects made up of over 2000 separate pieces,
numerically constituting more than half the contents of the tomb.

Once more, in the established rhythm of the post-1924 seasons, the
pendulum of concentration swung from the tomb to the laboratory,
where the harvest of objects from the autumn months could be worked
on - description, careful measurements, notes on particular details,
including points of construction, drawing of special features, then
cleaning, restoration and general conservation. When enough objects
were ready for transfer to the Cairo Museum, they were carefully packed
in made-to-measure cases, constructed under Carter’s supervision in the
Valley. Consignments were commonly sent at the end of the season, and
were closely followed by Carter and one of his collaborators, at first
Mace and then Callender, to see the cases unpacked in the Museum and
the objects, where appropriate, put on display. In the 1927-8 season so
much material had accumulated that an early dispatch was made on 25
January, containing objects recovered from the tomb in 1925 and 1926.
Carter followed the next day, as was his practice.

On this occasion Carter had an additional reason to take him to Cairo.
He was to meet Lady Burghclere, the sister of his late patron, who had
written such a sensitive memoir of her brother for the first volume of The

9 Ibid., p. 102.

421

HOWARD CARTER

Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen. He brought her back to Luxor on 31 January, and
she spent a week there before being escorted to Aswan for a three-week
stay. Carter was a friend of long standing, and he made her visit an
opportunity for perhaps the longest holiday he had allowed himself in
Egypt during his time of working on the tomb of Tutankhamun. He was
not particularly well at the time — indeed he was rarely in a state of good
health for the rest of his life — and the strain of working in confined
circumstances in the tomb and the laboratory for months on end had
taken its toll. It was not surprising that his patience was at times
stretched beyond endurance, and from his brief diary notes few things
seemed to try his forbearance more than the official demands to show
special visitors the tomb and the laboratory. His attitude was undoubt-
edly ambivalent, because vexation could be set beside possible advantage.
He was not averse from the honour of receiving specially important visi-
tors, and he carefully kept letters of thanks which followed up such visits.
The two pans of the balance contained on one side self-esteem and on
the other irritability; but in general an impression is gained that he was
more honoured than upset by the great.

A good example of his equivocal attitude is provided by the visit of the
Crown Prince of Sweden in November 1930. When the occasion is dealt
with later, it will be seen that Carter did his best to accommodate Prince
Gustav Adolf for the whole of this visit, even to the extent of changing
his own travel arrangements so that they could travel together to
Egypt. 10 Yet his diary entry is somewhat testy:

Our work was temporarily stopped owing to the arrival of the Crown
Prince of Sweden, whom I was obliged to attend during his three days
visit to Luxor. On Monday the third of Nov. At the request of the Crown
Prince I opened one of the niches containing the magical figures in the
burial chamber of the tomb.

It is difficult to believe that Carter did not arrange this visit in detail, and
even volunteered to show the Prince the Osiris figure in unbaked clay
which occupied the niche. But he could affect mild annoyance in his
diary notes.

In the 1927-8 season the tally of the great was considerable. At the
end of December the King of Afghanistan visited Luxor and the tomb as
part of a state visit to Egypt. On 3 February Umberto, the Crown Prince

10 See p. 435 below.

422

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

of Italy, was conducted around the Valley by Carter, in the middle of
Lady Burghclere’s visit. In late March the expected visit of the Princess
Royal took place. She was accompanied by her husband, Viscount
Lascelles, and Carter again was expected to act the dragoman for the
four days of their stay. There were also visits from the Egyptian Queen
Mother, the Sultana Malek, who had a house at Luxor and took occa-
sional advantage of Carter’s readiness to oblige her very real interest in
his work. He kept several letters of thanks from her secretary. 1

Not long before the end of the season the news reached Luxor that
Arthur Mace had died. It happened on 6 April, and on the 9th Carter
cabled to Winifred Mace in Haywards Heath, Sussex, what seems at first
glance to have been a very inadequate expression of regret: 12 ‘Please
accept since[re] condolences for sad loss he was a man for whom I had
great respect Carter.’ Under the circumstances it may have been the most
he could do, bearing in mind his tendency to conceal his feelings. At
least, one could say, it was a prompt response. He would certainly have
recalled the excellent but all too brief partnership which had set the
Tutankhamun juggernaut rolling along the right lines and in the right
direction. Mace could temperamentally accommodate himself to Carter’s
uncertain moods. His great common sense would save Carter from
making many a mistake. His staunch support would sustain Carter in
times of exasperation and fury. His experience in dealing with intricate
antiquities would prove invaluable in the days when the excavation
procedures in the tomb were being established. His advice on documen-
tation was crucial for the written record of the excavation. His literary
abilities ensured the success of the first popular volume on the tomb, in
which very properly his name was linked with that of Carter. All such
considerations were surely appreciated by Carter, but he was probably
incapable of writing a suitable letter of sympathy to Winifred Mace, espe-
cially as he may have felt a little guilty at not having kept in regular touch
with Mace in recent years.

When he had returned to England in late April, Carter seems to have
made an excursion to see Winifred Mace in Sussex. The visit can be
inferred from a letter written by Mrs Mace on 7 July to Albert Lythgoe in
New York, in which she says, 13 ‘Mr. Carter had his tonsils out on
Monday and has done very well. He was in a terribly nervy state, so it is a

11 In the possession of Jonathan Carter.

12 Formerly with Margaret Orr, in the Mace Papers.

13 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

423

HOWARD CARTER

good thing he was not upset by the operation.’ These words suggest that
she had seen him before he went into hospital, and had heard subse-
quently how he had fared. The severe cold he had suffered in the early
spring had no doubt obliged him to take medical advice on his return.
Egyptian colds can be vicious, long-lasting, inclined to renewal, and have
a tendency to setde in throat and chest. 14 In his time Howard Carter had
enjoyed his fair share of such ills, and the removal of his tonsils was
surely a wise move, as it would have been seen medically at that time.

The summer break of 1928 lasted a little longer than had been the case
in recent years. From late April until 20 September Carter remained in
England, presumably making the visits to friends and relatives which at
that time formed the course of his life away from Egypt. No general
diaries have survived after 1925, so that details of his movements and
activities can be learned only from occasional letters and similar docu-
ments. He undoubtedly was engaged in matters of business connected
with the work in Egypt, and he spent some time in the sale-rooms and
the shops of dealers in works of art, particularly carpets. Records of
some of his transactions are dealt with later in the volume.

Throughout most of the 1920s his London home was at 19
Collingham Gardens where his brother Samuel lived. It was, as has
already been noted, in Chelsea, close to the Old Brompton Road and the
site of Rich Terrace where he had been born. Letters of the time more
regularly give his address as 19b Collingham Gardens, and there is
evidence to suggest that he rented part of Samuel’s home as a London
pied-d-terre. Cables to Samuel in the early 1920s requesting him to open up
(and air) his quarters certainly indicate separate accommodation, and a
note in the possession of Jonathan Carter shows that for 1930—1
Howard rented 19b Collingham Gardens for a sum of £300. This rent
seems quite excessive for the period, and it may be supposed that it actu-
ally represented an inflated payment for charitable purposes. Samuel was
not, it seems, a man who had made a success of his life — he too was an
artist — and there is reason to think that Howard became increasingly
tired of Samuel’s shortcomings, particularly what used to be called a
fondness for the bottle. Letters in August 1930 indicate that the differ-
ences between the brothers had come to a head. Apparently Samuel had
written to Howard while he was out of Town to tell him that a crisis had
occurred one night when his wife Mary had an attack of her intermittent
heart trouble. Having nothing suitable to give her in his house, Samuel

14 See p. 124 above.

424

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

had entered Howard’s rooms and tried to open his drinks cabinet to get
some brandy. Unfortunately the key jammed and he had been obliged to
break the door open. Howard was not impressed, and told Samuel quite
clearly that he should not try to mislead him. 15 Very shortly afterwards
Howard moved to 2 Prince’s Gate Court in Kensington Gore, beside the
Albert Hall, a distinctly more fashionable address. 16 Photographs of his
rooms at Collingham Gardens and his later London flats show comfort-
able, well appointed apartments, tastefully equipped with paintings, good
furniture and rugs. Relations between Samuel and Howard were not
completely broken off. In June 1931 Samuel wrote to say that he and
Mary were about to move into a new flat and hoped that Howard could
drop in for a bite to eat before they left Collingham Gardens. 1

The new season in Egypt that began at the end of September 1928
looked set to see steady inroads being made on the material in the labora-
tory, and the removal of the parts of the shrines still stored in
Tutankhamun’s tomb itself. The fates, however, were not on Carter’s
side. He needed no problems to impede the flow of work, especially as
he would not have the assistance of Henri Landauer. The tombs were
opened up with everything in good order. Lucas arrived on 8 October
with a cold and a fever which steadily developed until by the 1 8th paraty-
phoid was diagnosed, and Carter packed him off to Cairo and the Anglo-
American Hospital. It would be some time before he could return,
although reports suggested that he was responding well to treatment.
Carter found it difficult working on his own after so many years of
having Lucas’s company in the tomb of Sethos II. So he looked forward
to the arrival of Harry Burton who would at least provide support and
company as well as get on with much needed photography. There would
be no relief. No sooner had Burton arrived than he went down with
dengue fever, thought to have been contracted in Cairo. It was a
distressing and painful illness, but responded to good nursing and was
not considered to be fatal. But there was no chance of getting any work
or company out of him and he was confined to bed at the Metropolitan
House for several weeks. Unfortunately Minnie Burton’s surviving diary
ceased in October 1926, so posterity 7 has been denied her account of the
progress of the disease.

15 Letters on this incident are with Jonathan Carter.

16 Letter to Caroline Ransom Williams of 19 November 1930 signals his recent change of
address; copy of letter with Jonathan Carter.

17 Letter of 16 June, with Jonathan Carter.

425

HOWARD CARTER

Nothing seemed to go right for Carter this season; he himself devel-
oped a bad cold, his car broke down, he became annoyed with his
workmen. This last difficulty was unusual for him. He had always main-
tained excellent relations with his Egyptian foremen and workmen, and
seemed to have an understanding of them which was comprehended and
greatly appreciated by them in turn. In his late sketches he makes out
how comfortable he always felt in the company of the inhabitants of
Western Thebes, indeed of Egyptian countrymen in general. But in the
autumn of 1928 with so much going wrong, whom else could he vent his
wrath upon? ‘Having a lot of stupidity on the part of the Reises and men.
It seems that they get more stupid as they get older — and slacker having
been, perhaps too long with me.’ It was good, therefore, to get his
regular collaborators back, Burton on 24 November and Lucas on 4
December.

Carter’s excavation diary contains no information on the work under-
taken during the rest of the season; there are, however, clear signs that a
page has been cut out of the volume. One may presume that the work in
the laboratory continued according to regular practice, that the tomb of
Tutankhamun was opened to the public in the New Year, and that the
season came to an end in April or early May. It had been a season in
which expectations had not been fulfilled. It had been affected by a run
of bad luck which some would attribute to the curse which was supposed
to dog those who had been closely involved with the excavation. 18 The
recent death of Mace only fuelled the imaginations of those who were
disposed to believe in such a blight. The origin of the curse may have
been due to a casual remark made by Arthur Weigall in a moment of
vexation when he was denied the liberty of the tomb and could not
endure the apparent lack of reverence shown to the shade of the dead
king. But the idea of a curse suited the popular image of ancient Egypt,
and the death of Lord Carnarvon provided the initial tragedy which
established the idea of a baleful influence. To counter the excesses of
such melodramatic beliefs by the invocation of common sense and the
production of contrary evidence is a hopeless procedure. The idea of a
curse is in a sense needed by many people to satisfy a kind of deep-seated
expectation of supernatural evil. It does no good to point out the survi-
vors among those most intimately connected with the discovery: Alan
Gardiner died in 1963 aged 84; James Henry Breasted in 1935 aged 70;

18 A sober statement on the so-called curse in N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun , pp.

62f.

426

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

Evelyn Herbert (Lady Beauchamp) in 1980 aged 79; Harry Burton in
1940 aged 61; Alfred Lucas in 1945 aged 78. Even Carter - the arch-
target surely — survived, even if in poor health, until 1939 when he was
65. People have to die, and many people die young, either by illness or
accident.

Carter may have said that some kind of spell had affected his season in
1928-9; but he would have said it lightly. He was one to reject utterly the
idea of the curse. His considered opinion on the subject, which no doubt
he voiced on many occasions, is set out in a piece he wrote but appar-
endy never published. Talking of Egyptian religion and cults, he says: 19

The sentiment of the Egyptologist, however, is not one of fear but of
respect and awe. It is entirely opposed to the foolish superstitions
which are far too prevalent among emotional people in search of
‘psychic’ excitement.

It is not my intention to repeat the ridiculous stories which have
been invented about tire dangers lurking in ambush, as it were, in the
Tomb, to destroy the intruder. Similar tales have been a common
feature of fiction for many years, they are mostly variants of the ordi-
nary ghost story, and may be accepted as a legitimate form of literary
amusement. But there is another and a serious side to this question
which calls for protest. It has been stated in various quarters that there
are actual physical dangers hidden in Tut-ankh-Amen’s Tomb - myste-
rious forces, called into being by some malefic power, to take venge-
ance on whomsoever should dare to pass its portals. There was
probably no place in the world freer from risks than the Tomb. Scien-
tific research had proved it to be sterile. Whatever foreign germs there
may be within it today have been introduced from without, yet
mischievous people have attributed many deaths, illnesses, and disas-
ters to alleged mysterious and noxious influences in the tomb. Unpar-
donable and mendacious statements of this nature have been
published and repeated in various quarters with a sort of malicious
satisfaction. It is indeed difficult to speak of this form of ‘ghostly’
calumny with calm. If it be not actually libellous it points in that
spiteful direction, and all sane people should dismiss such inventions
with contempt. So far as the living are concerned curses of this nature
have no part in the Egyptian Ritual.

19 In the possession of Jonathan Carter.

427

HOWARD CARTER

Breasted put the matter less ponderously in an interview he gave on
the RMS iMconia in 1934, as reported by Reuters: 20

‘All tommyrot!’ was the professor’s comment on the superstition that
those who worked on the king’s tomb were doomed as victims of a
curse.

‘If anyone was “exposed” to it I was. For two weeks I slept in the
tomb of King Tutankhamen and took my meals there. I never felt
better in my life! And the tomb is a gorgeous place.’

Breasted never slept in the tomb, or took his meals there, and he was
sometimes unwell when he was in Luxor to work on the tomb. But his
reported comments were aimed at the right level of unconcern.

After he had returned to England in the late spring of 1 929; Howard
Carter had a meeting - the date is uncertain, but probably in late July
with William Valentiner, the Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts,
and from it developed another association with an important American
museum not unlike that established in 1917 between him and the Cleve-
land Museum of Arts. 21 William Valentiner, who had been appointed
Director in 1924, was in the active process of building up the collections
of the Institute of Arts; among his priorities was the creation of an Egyp-
tian collection based on excavation, which might rival in due time the
Egyptian collection at the Metropolitan Museum. By chance he was the
grandson of the great nineteenth-century German Egyptologist, Karl
Richard Lepsius, but as far as is known he had no experience of Egypt,
and only marginal knowledge of Egyptian antiquities. His first enquiries
with Albert Lythgoe in the Metropolitan Museum and with Breasted,
through their mutual friend Mrs John D. Rockefeller Jr, led to the conclu-
sion that excavation might not be the right road to follow. Valentiner’s
meeting with Carter was, therefore, timely, as he saw it, and the arrange-
ment he rapidly made with Carter in the following weeks met with
enthusiastic support from Lythgoe, who wrote:

There is no one more familiar with the Egyptian market or more
closely in touch with all its best possibilities, and I need only to point

20 Reported in the Cunard Atlantic News. Special cruise edition. RMS Laconia, Wed. 4 April
1934, p. 3. 1 am grateful to John Larson for drawing this item to my attention.

21 See W. H. Peck in J.S.S.E^4. 11 (1981), pp. 65ff. He outlines the course of Carter’s
dealings with Detroit from start to finish. The documentation is all in Detroit.

428

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

to our own ‘Carnarvon collection’, which he formed for Carnarvon

over a long period of years, to illustrate his excellence of judgement

and sense of the beautiful.

Writing to Carter on 31 July 1 929 Valentiner proposed that he should
be given a free hand to purchase for the Institute pieces in categories
favoured by the Institute within a fixed sum year by year. What we need
most would be a few important pieces, especially of the early periods,
and besides perhaps a number of smaller object which can be placed in
the cases and give a certain idea of the development of decorative arts in
Egypt.’ He would recommend that the Detroit City Arts Commission
make available $25,000 for the first year. Carter agreed to act as agent
and suggested a commission of 10 per cent, which was 5 per cent less
than he had required in his dealings with Cleveland. Matters were quickly
settled and the first purchases were made in the spring of 1930 from two
well known Cairo antiquities dealers, Khawam Bros, and Nahman - two
Old-Kingdom mastaba reliefs, a Middle-Kingdom bust and a large scarab
of Amenophis III. The pieces from Khawam were paid for directly from
Detroit; the Nahman scarab and Carter’s commission ($1800) came out
of a sum of $5000 which had been placed in Carter’s bank account in
Egypt.

Unfortunately the good relationship which had thus begun so promis-
ingly was curtailed in 1930 because of the state of the Detroit city
finances. And so the arrangement was shelved for the time being,
although Valentiner hoped that it would be only a passing condition, and
‘that in spite of it if you find anything which you think would be neces-
sary for us, you would kindly let us know, since the Arts Commission
have the greatest confidence in your excellent judgement.’ There still
remained in the National Bank of Egypt $2700 out of tire $5000 sent to
Carter earlier in 1930, and there it remained until he was reminded of it
by William Valentiner in 1936. Carter then took the opportunity of
suggesting the purchase of ‘a wonderful specimen of the XIV Cent.
(B.C.) Egyptian blue faience that has just appeared on the market.’ This
was an outstanding sphinx figure of Amenophis III which he claimed
rightly to be ‘unmatched — there being nothing of its kind in any
Museum.’ It could then be purchased for about $25000 (i.e. £5000).
There was no response on this matter from Valentiner and the $2700
remained in Cairo and the sphinx in Carter’s possession. To complete
this Detroit story, it can be added that at Carter’s death the debt was

429

HOWARD CARTER

settled by the sending to Detroit of two Late-Period heads and a faience
cinerary urn of the Roman Period, all from Carter’s private collection. By
a kind of strange and ironical chance the sphinx of Amenophis III,
which was also still in Carter’s possession at his death, was sold to the
Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, just a few
miles from Detroit. It is now a treasured possession of the Metropolitan
Museum, but for some years before its sale by Cranbrook it was placed
on display in the Detroit Institute of Arts — a temporary fulfilment of
what Carter had vainly tried to arrange in 1936.

Vexation and frustration may have characterized the 1928-9 season,
but the problems of the illness-ridden time were nothing compared with
the exasperation of the 1929-30 season. Carter returned to Egypt in the
autumn in the expectation of continuing and possibly completing work
on the dismantled shrines which were still stacked in the tomb. His diary
record for the season is contained in a single entry:

No work was done during this season. Negociations [sic] with the Eg.
Gov. with regard to some favourable settlement for the Carnarvon
Estate and heirs for work rendered. Also with regard to favourable
conditions for the completion of the remaining work to be done on
behalf of the Eg. Gov., took the greater part of the season. ... It was
not until late in Sept, (1930) that the Eg. Gov. saw its way to pay over
to the Carnarvon heirs the sum of 35971£E covering the Carnarvon
expenses for work rendered commencing from the discovery to the
completion of their part of the works in April 1929. The question of
the recompense for the Met. Mus. Art of N.Y. for the assistance at
their own sacrifice given during the whole of the operations has yet to
be considered by the Eg. Gov., they taking over the responsibility from
us.

The circumstances revealed by this entry remain uncertain in detail.
The Countess of Carnarvon had decided, probably on Carter’s advice,
not to renew her concession for the work on the tomb after it ran out in
October 1929. The clearance of the tomb was now completed and what
remained to be done to satisfy the formal requirements of the conces-
sion (apart from publication) was the removal of the shrines from the
tomb - a formal though difficult operation and not part of the deblaie-
ment , strictly speaking, followed by their conservation and transport to
Cairo. Presumably Carter thought that these final activities could best be

430

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

carried out under an arrangement between himself and the Antiquities
Service, which in fact was negotiated later, in February 1930. He had not,
however, allowed for complications caused by the surrendering of the
concession, and by the changed political situation in Egypt. After 31
October he had no formal status vis-a-vis tire tomb, and would find that
he might not even be able to hold tire keys to enter it. He could not
conceive how the Antiquities Service could be so crass. His appeal to the
Service had elicited an unsatisfactory answer from Henri Gauthier, the
Secretary-General, asking him to organize his work in the laboratory-
tomb, but pointing out that the chief ghaffir (guard) could not hold the
keys. 22 The local Inspector of Antiquities could hold them and open up
for Carter. Regular hours should be kept, so that time would not be lost.
In some desperation Carter appealed to Percy Newberry to intercede on
his behalf. Newberry had in 1929 taken up an appointment as Professor
of Ancient History and Archaeology in Cairo University, and he did what
he could; but to no avail. He wrote to Carter on 15 January 1930
explaining his efforts on his behalf and reporting that His Excellency
Neguib el-Halaly had pointed out that it was against the law to hand over
the key of any government property to an individual who was not on the
permanent staff of the Egyptian government. He could, however,
arrange to have a permanent official sent to Luxor who would hold the
keys and be entirely at Carter’s disposal. 23

Howard Carter was well aware how inefficiently such an arrangement
would work, and his reply of 18 January pointed out that the keys, locks,
the portcullis and steel gate were all ‘our property’, that is belonged to
the Carnarvon expedition, and equally everything in the laboratory
except the antiquities. The keys had always been in his custody. Lady
Carnarvon had not renewed her concession, but, he continued, 24

Last April I offered to complete the technical work that still remains to
be done in the laboratory at my cost, and further to help the Antiqui-
ties Department in the very intricate undertaking of removing those
large shrines from the tomb of Tutankhamen. Under such circum-
stances I fail to understand why in the eleventh hour should exception
be made in my case with regard to the custody of the keys of the labo-
ratory.

22 This letter with Jonathan Carter.

23 With Jonathan Carter.

24 G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/76.

431

HOWARD CARTER

Politically things had changed in a number of disadvantageous ways.
At the Residency Lord Lloyd had been succeeded by Sir Percy Loraine, a
career diplomat — the first to occupy this important position. Meanwhile,
after a confused and troublesome period of domestic politics, the Wafd
were reestablished in government with Nahas Pasha as Prime Minister. A
less sympathetic attitude towards any settlement for the Carnarvon
family than had been offered five years earlier by Ziwar Pasha could now
be expected. No account of the course of the negotiations has - perhaps
happily - been preserved, but it was a trying time for Carter. Winlock
wrote to Gardiner on 9 December; having described Newberry, in his
new position, as being ‘as happy as a child with a new toy’, he
continued: 25

Carter arrived here from Cairo day before yesterday, in quite the oppo-
site mood. He hasn’t been able to make any headway at all with his
affairs and up to the present hasn’t even been able to get into his own
laboratory.

In the face of the tiresome attitude to keys — one which would come
up again in the following year — Carter seems to have given up all hope
for work in the tomb and the laboratory for the season, and he concen-
trated on trying to conclude the matter of the Carnarvon compensation.
Eventually in the spring the Nahas government decided to revoke the
promise of duplicates; the question of financial recompense remained,
and would in fact be settled during the summer. The negotiations on the
Carnarvon side had been principally conducted by Sir Robert Hutch-
inson, who had on the whole secured a satisfactory outcome. 26

Troubles did not come singly to Carter; he found himself during the
season also engaged in litigation. The trouble which led to the action is
not made clear in the minimal documentation preserved. 2 What is
known is that it involved someone named A. Galani, that it was
handled for Carter by Georges Merzbach, and that it was settled in
Carter’s favour in March 1930. Carter’s inclination to engage in legal
action has been noted before. He jealously guarded his ‘rights’, as he
conceived them, and was particularly sensitive about his reputation.

25 G.I. Gardiner Corr. AHG/42.375.41.

26 Mentioned in a letter of Carter’s to Newberry of 18 January 1930, G.I. Newberry Corr.
8/76.

27 With Jonathan Carter.

432

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

Rarely did matters come to court, except over the tomb troubles in
1924; setdements were made out of court, as happened with the busi-
ness over the Tutankhamun tomb replica at the British Empire Exhibi-
tion, also in 1924. Recourse to law was an unnecessary expense for
someone in Carter’s position, and there is little evidence to show that
his reputation was either damaged seriously by the incidents which
prompted litigation, or particularly enhanced by any success in this
respect. A good example of unnecessary recourse to law came in 1932
when Mr James R. Ogden seemed to have doubted Carter’s part in the
discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. 28 James Ogden was a Harro-
gate jeweller and a well known enthusiast in Egyptological matters and
a member of the committee of the Egypt Exploration Society during
the early 1930s.

In the Cambridge Daily Nervs of 21 October 1932 James Ogden was
reported as saying in a public lecture that when the discovery of the steps
leading down to the tomb was made, Carter had gone to Cairo for a
week and had left a foreman to supervise the clearance of debris. This
foreman, acting contrary to instructions, removed debris in a southward
instead of a northward direction, and the tomb, therefore, was discov-
ered by chance. On having this statement drawn to his attention, Carter
instructed Inis solicitors to extract an apology from Mr Ogden, and to
secure the publication of a retraction in The Times and the Cambridge Daily
News. As soon as he was approached James Ogden readily agreed to do
what was requested, explaining that he had read the statement about the
discovery in an English or an Egyptian newspaper, and had quoted it to
show that what was said in the report was not in accordance with the
facts. He had been badly reported, something about which Carter might
well have sympathised with him. His retraction was sent to the two spec-
ified newspapers on 9 December, and he paid all the expenses involved
in the matter. He also expressed to the solicitors his gratitude at the way
the affair had been handled. One may well feel, however, that the satis-
factory outcome could have been just as easily achieved by Carter’s
addressing a private letter to Ogden. For someone who favoured the
light touch in his professional work, he was too inclined to resort to the
sledge-hammer in settling disputes in his private affairs.

The final settlement of the Carnarvon compensation claim was made
in the early summer of 1930. J. R. H. Molony of Frere Cholmeley wrote
to Carter on 25 June announcing the acceptance of the sum of £35,867

28 The papers are with Jonathan Carter.

433

HOWARD CARTER

13s. 8d. 29 Lady Carnarvon had promised to give Carter one quarter of
the total, a figure that Moloney worked out as £8966 18s. 5d. Carter in
the end was not to receive the full amount. In September Lady
Carnarvon’s solicitor, Alfred W Freyser of Arundel Street off the Strand,
sent Carter a cheque for £8012, writing in explanation:

I am to add that her ladyship has paid to the Trustees of the late Earl
of Carnarvon’s estate so much of the money received by her from
Egypt as is referable to the amount expended by the late Lord
Carnarvon on the work in his lifetime, and it is her intention, when as
she anticipates she receives from the Trustees in her capacity of bene-
ficiary under her late Husband’s will, the net amount remaining from
the sum after payment of duties, and expenses, to allocate 25% of this
to you.

Later in the year Lady Carnarvon’s solicitor wrote again to say that
there was a refund on estate and legacy duty amounting to £2184 10s.
lid., of which Carter was being sent £546 2s. 9d. His total share of the
compensation, therefore, amounted to £8558 2s. 9d. So was this long-
lasting dispute over compensation brought to an end with some satisfac-
tion for the Carnarvon Estate and Howard Carter. Nothing was ever
done to recompense the Metropolitan Museum for its expenditure over
the years, estimated at £8000.

In the course of the summer Carter celebrated his good fortune by
taking a long holiday in July and August, a sentimental return journey to
the country of the West Midlands which he felt he had discovered in
1924. This time he took with him as travelling companion his old friend
Percy White, who had been 78 on 14 April 1930. He owed White much
for the work he had done on the second volume of The Tomb of
Tut.ankh.A?nen , and he may, during this tour, have discussed the form of
the final volume in which, however, no mention of White occurs. The
1930 tour began in the Cotswolds with a visit to Fairford Park, where
Carter and White were guests of Colonel A. J. Palmer; then they went to
the Wye Valley, to Tintern and Chepstow; back to Tewkesbury, and north
to Ludlow in Shropshire; back to Malvern, which held specially fond
memories for Carter; a return to Lydbrook-on-Wye, and then some days

29 In The Tomb of Tut.ankh.A.men , III, p. vii, Carter gives the figure received by Lady
Carnarvon as ‘a sum equivalent to £36,000 sterling’. The figures given in this volume
come from solicitors’ letters in the possession of Jonathan Carter.

434

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

again in the Cotswolds (Stanway and Stow-on-the-Wold) and to Bishop’s
Frome and Bosbury in Herefordshire. The itinerary of such a visit might
not seem very well planned, if the map and economy of driving are
considerations, but Carter and White had time, and the inclination to
travel gently through unspoilt countryside, visiting picturesque villages
and fine churches. White particularly remembered Tewkesbury Abbey. It
was all surely balm to Carter after the frustrations of the recent season in
Egypt. 30

Not long after his return to England in the late spring of 1930 Carter
had undertaken a very busy programme of lectures in Sweden: two in
Stockholm, and others in Malmo, Uppsala, Vasteras and Gothenburg; he
also gave several talks on the radio. It was during this visit that he met the
Crown Prince, Gustav Adolf, with whom he seems to have established a
very friendly relationship.’ 1 Subsequently the Prince wrote in his own
hand to Carter to tell him of his projected visit to Egypt later in the year.
He hoped to meet Carter again, and clearly expected to be shown
Tutankhamun’s tomb. A flurry of letters passed between them. The
Prince suggested that they might travel to Egypt together; Carter had
already made his own plans, but might be able to change them. In the
end they did travel together on the SS Ausonia , leaving England on 24
September and arriving in Cairo on the 29th. Carter’s diary notes ‘accom-
panying H. R. H. Crown Prince of Sweden’. Before he went down to
Luxor the Prince went to Cyprus, presumably to visit the Swedish-
Cyprus archaeological expedition. His antiquarian interests were far from
being casual. His visit to Luxor has already been mentioned.

Initially Carter had better success with his work. He opened up the
laboratory tomb on 8 October, and the tomb itself on the 1 1 th. He was
joined by Alfred Lucas on the 13th. There remained objects to be
worked on as well as the sections of the shrines. He was still not allowed
to hold the keys, and was obliged each day to wait for the arrival of an
inspector to open up. The possibility of delay was not the only disadvan-
tage of having this new supervision — an arrangement arising from the
conditions for work which he had negotiated in the spring of the year.
On 10 October, working on the elaborate faldstool, he noted, ‘Find work

30 The details of the tour are taken from the order of the photographs taken by Carter
and mounted in an album now in the possession of Jonathan Carter. White’s letter of
thanks is also with Jonathan Carter.

31 Letters on the visit to Sweden and correspondence with the Crown Prince are in the
possession of Jonathan Carter.

435

HOWARD CARTER

very trying when having an Inspector watching one and asking questions
as to one’s actions the whole time!’ The next day, as if in small part to
moderate this criticism, he writes:

Getting along very well with Tewfik Effendi and Edward Effendi
notwithstanding they kept me waiting (they being late) and both told
me how to do my work — reparation of chair 351 and the removal of
the shrines from the Tomb!!!

The removal of the shrine sections needed careful preparation and
took some time because the operation required the enlarging of the
entrance passage to allow the withdrawal of the sections in a partly
packed state, which was necessary for their protection. From the tomb
they were taken to the laboratory for detailed conservation and study.
The emptying of the tomb of the last piece by the end of the year led to
another dispute over keys. Carter did not want to be encumbered with a
fixed arrangement with the local inspector. He could not see why the
chief ghaffir could not hold the keys, and complained bitterly to Lacau on
6 January 1931, in answer to what must have been a rather negative letter
— as he would have read it. He claimed that what Lacau wanted was
contrary to the arrangement made in February 1930; he also pointed out
that ‘the operations upon which I shall be engaged as well as those which
I have already carried out this autumn are for your advantage and
scarcely can be considered to be for my personal benefit.’ He hoped that
a delegate of die Service could be made available to be at his disposal ‘at
any time that is most convenient for the particular work upon which I
am engaged in lab. No. 15.’ He was about to go south to Wadi Haifa,
upstream from Abu Simbel and just within the Sudan — presumably
taking some important, but unspecified, visitor.

When Carter returned he found an answer from Lacau which was as
reasonable as he could have hoped for, although the Director-General
was quite firm about not allowing the chief ghaffir to hold the keys. He
still urged Carter to fix regular hours so as not to oblige the Service’s
delegate - one of the Inspectors - to hang about all day in the Valley
waiting for Carter to turn up. He could always indicate in the morning
what his plans were for the day. Lacau ends on a most accommodating
note: ‘Cela me semble facile et nous rendrait service. C’est cela seulement
dont il est question. Faites au mieux sur ce point’ (That seems easy to

32 Carter’s letter to Lacau and Lacau’s answer are with Jonathan Carter.

436

A LONG AND STEADY PLOD

me, and would do us a favour. That alone is the point at issue. Do your
best in this matter). It must be presumed that the arrangement worked,
for there have survived no further indications of dispute over Carter’s
working practices. Although his own diary of work contains no entries
after November 1930, mentions of his activities in Lindsley Hall’s diary
allow some track to be kept of Inis progress. Hall had returned to work
with the Metropolitan Egyptian Expedition in Luxor in November 1930,
bringing with him Elizabeth, his newly married bride. This was the first
time he had been back in Luxor since 1923 when he had been engaged
on the plan of the Antechamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb along with
Walter Hauser. Hall made several visits during the 1930—1 season to his
old haunts in the Valley of the Kings, and to see Carter.

1930

[20 Nov.] After tea Walter [Hauser] drove me to Carter’s. He is still at
work on Tut-anklvAmun. He sent me home in his car.

1931

[29 Jan.] After tea E [Elizabeth] and I walked down to Carter’s, where
we had V 2 hr’s pleasant visit with the gentleman.

[10 Feb.] This A.M. Hayes drove Mrs. W [Winlock], Miss Kay, Eliza-
beth and me to the Valley of the Kings. We visited Tut-‘ankh-Amun,
the gold coffin lying in quartzite sarcophagus. The wall paintings are

ugly-

[10 March] Yesterday I rose early and after 7:15 breakfast went to the
Valley of the Kings and took pictures of great wagon being man-
pulled to river with Tut-‘ankh-Amun objects leaving for Cairo.

[26 March] Carter came to tea. He leaves Luxor tomorrow.

Lindsley Hall did not return to Luxor for the next season, and was,
therefore, not about to see the departure from the Valley of the last
sections of the shrines. Howard Carter’s mammoth task came to an end
in February 1932. He had been in Egypt since early October” and had

33 In a letter of 17 September 1931 to Newberry, Carter mentions that he expects to arrive
in Cairo on 6 October, G.I. Newberry Corr. 8/78. The completion of his work on
Tutankhamun’s tomb in February 1932 is stated in The Tomb ofTut.ankh^Amen , III, p. vii.

437

HOWARD CARTER

been moving to a conclusion, slowly and steadily, but almost as if he now
could scarcely bring himself to finish. It had all taken so much longer
than anyone could have foreseen. As he himself pointed out in the
Preface to the third volume of The Tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen, one whole
season had been spent on dismantling the great shrines, and the last two
seasons on consolidating them fit for transport to Cairo. The task from
beginning to end had needed determination, patience and skill. And in
recognizing Carter’s achievement, it must not be forgotten that he had
never been deserted by Alfred Lucas, whose contribution was enormous
and can never be overpraised. Recall what Petrie told Newberry in 1923:
‘We can only say how lucky it is all in the hands of Carter and Lucas.’ 34

34 See p. 263 above.

438

NON-FULFILMENT AND
DECLINE

Lacau’s letter to Howard Carter in January 1931, in which he proposed
the accommodation over keys, contained the supposition that Carter by
now would be eager to complete his work in tomb No. 15 so that he
might begin his publication. There can be little doubt that Carter indeed
had the great scholarly publication of Tutankhamun’s tomb in mind, but
first his intention in that direction would be the production of the third
volume of his popular work. He may also have had an understandable
surfeit as far as the tomb was concerned. The years of search, excavation,
deblaiement . , had been intensive and exhausting, and excessively trying for
a man whose natural inclination was to work alone, to watch birds, and
to paint watercolours. The immense success was there; he was the best
known archaeologist in the world; he could, had he wished, have spent all
his time being feted and entertained. The drought may have occurred to
him that he had had enough of the tomb and the Valley of the Kings for
the time being, It is not surprising, therefore, that when he was asked by
newspaper reporters in 1 930 what his plans were now that Tutankhamun
was virtually finished, he told them that he intended to search for and
excavate the tomb of Alexander the Great.

The site of the tomb, presumed from classical indications to be in
Alexandria, had been sought, but without serious effort, for many years,
and without success. Carter claimed to have a very good idea of where it
was; but it may be suggested that he was pulling the legs of his old
friends, the gentlemen of the Press. 1 As far as can be judged from knowl-
edge of his movements over the years in Egypt, he never spent more

1 He talked to colleagues about this idea, as Charles Wilkinson confirmed; but he was
reluctant to reveal any plans. See T. Hoving, Tutankhamun. The Untold Story (New York,
1978), p. 58.

439

HOWARD CARTER

than a few hours in Alexandria at the start and finish of each season, with
one certain exception, during the summer of 1918 when he took a
holiday there with a friend from the Residency. Nevertheless, Alexander’s
tomb was to be his next task, and the idea not only convinced the news-
papers, but stimulated a number of people, mostly a little cranky, to write
to him with offers of help and ‘good’ advice. An emigre Russian
professor wrote from Paris suggesting the use of a torsion balance,
which would draw attention to ‘any buried cavity beneath the surface of
the earth’, and establish its exact situation, depth and dimensions. He
would, of course, be happy to put his experience ‘as a specialist in subsoil
research with the torsion balance’ at Carter’s disposal. 2

Carter may well have toyed with the idea of starting some new project,
without perhaps having a clear idea of what it should be. Some credence
to the possibility may be given by a strange episode involving the young
Cyril Aldred, 3 subsequently die Keeper of Art and Archaeology in the
Royal Scottish Museum, a distinguished Egyptologist, who was 1 8 when
he met Carter in 1932. Aldred had been introduced to Carter’s brother
William at the Chelsea Arts Club by one of his schoolmasters, and having
already an interest in Egypt, he was sent to see Howard Carter at 2
Prince’s Gate Court. On that occasion - it was at teatime - he was
surprised at finding himself being tested to provide dates for a number
of small Egyptian objects which were in the flat. It was a testing experi-
ence indeed, for Aldred’s knowledge of Egyptian antiquities was very
rudimentary. He remembered being asked about a small vessel for kohl
(eye-paint), and saying ‘Middle Kingdom’. Carter then asked whether it
was early or late in the period, and again Aldred guessed, saying it was
late. He claimed that he used some invented criterion for this date,
perhaps the particular shape of the curve of the vessel. Carter, it seems,
was impressed and said that he had never considered that criterion.
There were several subsequent meetings, and in June 1 933 Carter gave
Aldred a written certificate:

To all that may be concerned

2 This and other letters on Alexandria are in the possession of Jonathan Carter. The
torsion balance, an invention of R. von Eotvos, a Hungarian geophysicist, is an instru-
ment devised to estimate the gravitational deceleration of the surface of the Earth.

3 Information on this episode and other remembrances of Howard Carter were given to
the author by Cyril Aldred in a series of informal talks 1988—90. The letters quoted are
in the possession of his widow.

440

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

I have examined Mr. Cyril Aldred and have found him to have a very
fair knowledge of Egyptological subjects especially that of Ancient
Egyptian Art.

About this time he also proposed that Aldred should spend a season
with him in Egypt to obtain practical experience in the field. His letter
explaining this opportunity sets out what seemed to be a remarkably
generous offer:

I myself am a great believer of practical experience. With a good
educational foundation it is, without doubt, the finest instruction of
all. You see other worlds, you see other people. And one must never
forget that in moulding our future our greatest enemy or friend is
ourselves.

Now, with regard to my proposal - a season in Egypt, roughly
speaking six months, say from the end of Oct. to the end of April
1 933 [sic] — financially that should cost you nothing. Your fares there
and back would be paid. You would have no travelling exs. [expenses]
in Egypt. You would naturally live with me, and I should be willing to
cover your necessary outfit plus a little pocket money.

But remember this. Your future lies in your hands as before.

Cyril Aldred did not, in the event, take up this offer, but followed
parental and school advice and undertook a conventional university
education. He himself had no reason to believe that Carter had any
motive other than wishing to help a young and promising potential Egyp-
tologist. He had begun Ids own career by patronage, and he was now in a
position to act the patron himself. Aldred could not recall that Carter had
any particular piece of work in prospect with which he could provide his
young protege with experience. He might not have had excavation in
mind, but some other kind of archaeological work, even epigraphy, the
skill in which he was possibly best equipped to instruct. The Theban
Necropolis could provide a host of possible and profitable tasks through
which a young man with artistic interests could gain valuable experience.
After completing his degree in 1936 Aldred contacted Carter again, and
was invited to visit him to tell how he was getting on. That, it seems, was
their last contact. Carter would surely have been pleased had he been able
to follow Aldred’s career in which he made himself the leading Egypto-
logical art historian in Great Britain, and an acknowledged expert in

441

HOWARD CARTER

subjects which were close to Carter’s heart — the reign of King Ameno-
phis III, the Amarna Period and Tutankhamun.

Lacau, however, was right in thinking that publication would be the
proper priority for Carter once the 1931-2 season was finished. It was a
daunting prospect. Throughout the years of work on the tomb, in the
laboratory and in England, when possible, during the summers, a
remarkable documentation had been painstakingly built up. It grew as
material arrived, through the personal work of Carter and Lucas, the
laboratory studies of Scott and Plenderleith, the textual commentaries of
Breasted and Gardiner, the botanical notes of Newberry and L.A.
Boodle of the Jodrell Laboratory at Kew, and the anatomical examina-
tions of Derry and Saleh Hamdi. There were many others who were seen
or written to by Carter for advice on special technical matters, and their
remarks and opinions were carefully filed away against the time when
work would start on the final report. For the moment, however, this
great mass of material, although superficially organized, was in no way
digested or put into any convenient shape by which a publication could
easily advance.

Carter had recently been asked to contribute a section on the material
from Tutankhamun’s tomb to a rather general conspectus, The Art of
Egypt through the Ages (1931), conceived and edited by E. Denison Ross,
the Director of the School of Oriental Studies. It was not a notably good
book, although Carter was in rather good company; it was marred in
parts by poor photographs. Carter’s own contribution was unexciting
and somewhat ordinary, but the preparation of it had been a useful exer-
cise which possibly helped him in the completion of the third volume of
The Tomb of Tut.ankhA?nen. In his Preface to this volume he acknowl-
edges help in die writing from no specific person, but thanks generally
‘the numerous colleagues who have been so good as to help me when-
ever called upon.’ He singles out Alan Gardiner for his aid with trans-
lating the inscriptions, and the Metropolitan Museum for allowing him to
have the ‘advantage of Mr. Harry Burton’s unremitting labours.’ But
neither Gardiner nor Burton seems to have had a hand in the text of the
volume, and it must be concluded that it was principally Howard Carter’s
own work. As has been suggested earlier, he may have discussed its form
with Percy White, particularly during their long tour of the West
Midlands in 1930. Apart from reasonably straightforward accounts of
the clearance of the Treasury and the Annexe, the volume contained an
essay on the historical background to the reign of Tutankhamun, in

442

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

which Carter gave a very reasonable summary of contemporary thinking
on the Amarna Period. He also included a very interesting chapter on the
reasons for the poor condition of much of the material found in the
tomb, based not only on the work of Lucas, but also on Carter’s own
experiences and observations over nearly forty years working in the
Theban area. He had always written with a fair sense of style and in a
lively manner, but he had a tendency to over-egg the pudding of his
composition with purplish patches and dramatic, sentimental comments
and judgements. He showed himself remarkably restrained in the writing
of this volume III, and it must be thought that there was another hand at
work, if only that of a very good editor. As ever the book was illustrated
with a splendid series of Harry Burton’s photographs.

Carter expected that in preparing the final report he would have help
from Gardiner. It is very probable that they had talked about it in general
terms from time to time. They had worked together well in the past and
Carter knew how much skill and knowledge in matters of scholarly publi-
cation Gardiner would bring to the enterprise. He took the matter up in a
letter written in the summer after the completion of his work on the
tomb: 4

I want much to see you to discuss the layout of the final publication
‘Report upon the tomb of Tutiankhamun’ (for which you have kindly
accepted to do certain parts) so that we may have some idea and now
know what lines to work upon.

In making a sort of synopsis of the subjects and material to be dealt
with it looks very much like 6 vols. to be brought out separately one by
one. It is upon their make up that I should like your views and collab-
oration.

It is interesting to note that in this letter Carter uses for the first time the
spelling of the Egyptian king’s name that was favoured by Gardiner —
here in the title of the proposed publication. It is the form still used by
some British Egyptologists, but it should be said that all forms of
spelling of ancient Egyptian names are governed by conventions, and are
of doubtful authenticity. Some conventions are, however, better based
than others, and it would be a foolhardy Egyptologist who claimed that
his own chosen convention was right beyond all doubt. So there remains
room for many different spellings of ancient names, and particularly of

4 Copy of the letter of 30 August 1 932 with Jonathan Carter.

443

HOWARD CARTER

Tutankhamun, as readers of this book will have noticed. In the writing
favoured by Gardiner, it is now common to omit the indication of a
guttural sound (r .) in non-specialist works.

Carter was surely not bothered particularly by the way the royal name
was spelled, but he did seem eager to get on with the publication. No
positive reply from Gardiner has survived, but almost a year later he
wrote to congratulate Carter on the appearance of volume III of The
To?nb ofTut.ankh.A-men, and added: 3

And now you will soon be starting on the larger publication. I shall be
most happy to help you to the full extent of my power. We will have a
talk about it very soon, if you will.

Again it is not known if Carter and Gardiner had further discussions,
although there is evidence for at least one meeting from the correspond-
ence over a very unfortunate incident which happened in the autumn of
1934. It would not have been like Gardiner to prevaricate over a matter
in which he had great interest, and on which he would certainly have had
strong views. The cause of what resulted in a complete rupture of rela-
tions between the two was an amulet of glazed composition (more
generally called faience), in die form of an animal leg 1 1 — the Egyp-
tian sign with a phonetic value whm (usually pronounced mhern), and
meaning ‘repeat’. During the summer of 1934 Carter gave such an
amulet to Gardiner, assuring him that it did not come from the tomb of
Tutankhamun. Subsequently Gardiner showed it to Rex Engelbach, who
was by that time the Chief Keeper of the Cairo Museum; he asserted that
it did come from the tomb, because there were others like it in the tomb-
material in the Cairo Museum. Gardiner thereupon sent the amulet back
to Cairo, and tactlessly sent copies of the correspondence with Engel-
bach to Carter. Understandably, Carter was very annoyed, especially as he
had first heard of the return of the amulet from Lacau in Cairo. He wrote
a stiff letter back to Gardiner reiterating his belief that the amulet did not
come from the tomb. He said that he found the contents of Gardiner’s
letter ‘staggering’, and concluded: 5 6

I think, Gardiner, that on second thoughts, you will agree that it would
perhaps have been kinder had you advised me upon the matter before

5 Card of 12 June 1933 with Jonathan Carter.

6 Copy of the letter of 27 November 1934 with Jonathan Carter.

444

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

actually taking the steps you did. Especially as I see by your letter to
Engelbach dated 23rd Oct., that I was in London at the time. However
I take it that what you did was done with the best intentions, and
remain

Yours sincerely,

Howard Carter

Carter was surely right in the sentiment of his last sentence. Gardiner’s
conscience could easily get the better of him, and he was ever inclined to
act in a hasty manner. In that case, sadly, his impetuosity led to an end in
their association over the publication, and consequently sounded the
death knell of the project for Carter as well. After Carter’s death
Gardiner said somewhat wistfully in a letter to Newberry, 7 ‘I was not on
good terms with Carter during the last years of his life’; and some years
later he did his very best to initiate plans for a full publication of Carter’s
great achievement. In 1951 it looked as if funds for a splendid multi-
volume work would be found in Egypt itself. A commitment by the
Egyptian Council of Ministers seemed to crown Gardiner’s efforts, but
the chance was lost with the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. 8

There is not a great deal of evidence that Carter did anything to begin
even a first volume of his grand scheme, although he did from time to
time add snippets of information to his voluminous files. He did,
however, write a series of sketches on his early life, and on special inci-
dents and episodes in his working life, during his last years. They exist in
several copies, in differing stages of completion and revision, and some
have been drawn upon in the writing of the present volume. They vary
considerably in accuracy, the account of his early days in particular being
flawed by many small errors. But they are lively, colourful and imagina-
tive. He certainly had an intention to publish, but he could never bring
himself to complete them. After his death his niece Phyllis Walker wrote
to Percy Newberry asking him to help her with the sketches, which she
said Carter had planned to publish with her help. Newberry agreed to
help, but no tiling further seems to have happened . 1

Among the sketches now in the Carter papers in the Griffith Institute
in Oxford 18 is one which deals with the robbery of the tomb of King

7 G.I. Newberry Corr. 18/7, of 25 July 1939.

8 See his late account of his efforts in My Working Years (privately published, 1963), p. 39.

9 Letters of 9 and 14 June 1939 in G.I. Newberry Corr. 44/60.

10 In Carter Notebook 17, pp. 189ff.

445

HOWARD CARTER

Amenophis II in the Valley of die Kings in 1901; in a sequel to his prin-
cipal account, Carter adds remarks which set out his own views on the
ethics of excavation. From internal evidence this section was written in
about 1 937. It is a kind of apologia pro vita sua\

I have noticed from time to time letters written to the editors of the
daily newspapers commenting upon the so-called ‘profanation’ on the
part of archaeologists; some of these letters specially aimed at myself.
Those that make such complaints seem unaware that the profanation
they allude to is really applicable to the tomb-plunderers of die past and
the present day. They seem to forget that what the archaeologist is doing
in Egypt and elsewhere, for the sake of die history of man, is to
endeavour to rescue these remains of the past from the destructive
vandalism of the grave-robbers. In such letters referring to archaeolog-
ical activities I have noticed even terms used of a kind which verge on
libel by their very false and defamatory suggestions. For example: ‘It is
monstrous that the Tombs of the dead should thus be rifled, their
contents scattered far and wide, and the bodies un-wrapped and
exposed to the public gaze, not only from the religious point of view is
the profanation abominable, but also from a national. . . . Public opinion
both in this country (England) and in Egypt should rise up against and
stop this sort of thing’ Ignorance is always abusive; the man who does
not know is full of violent affirmations and malign interpretations.

The suggestion of ‘profanation’ on the part of a properly trained
archaeologist is, I repeat, nothing less than libellous by its very reflec-
tion. I therefore think it right for me to solemnly affirm — not arrogantly
or defiantly - that profanation is the very last idea of a true archaeolo-
gist. In his research work his one and sole idea is to rescue remains of
the past from destruction, and that when in the course of his work he
passes inviolate thresholds, he feels not only an awe and wonder distilled
from their tremendous past, but the sense of a sacred obligation. I
would add, everything goes to prove that if scientific research of this
kind ended tomorrow, greater would be the number of unauthorized
persons sacking graves that would yield gold and precious objects who
sold and ‘scattered far and wide’; and, for all practical purposes, that
would be the end of them.

With regard to legitimate discovery of such treasures, the words of
His Holiness the Pope, Pius XII, 11 invites reminiscence. Referring to the

1 1 Probably Pius XI, who died in February 1939, to be succeeded by Pius XII.

446

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

Tut.ankh.Amun discovery, he said to Lady Burghclere: ‘It is not an exhu-
mation, it is a resurrection.’

There will be many who, while accepting in general Carter’s justifica-
tion for excavation of burials, will detect a strong scent of hypocrisy in
what he says about the robbing of tombs, the selling of objects and the
scattering of the ancient legacy far and wide. Carter himself never
disguised his interest in and love for fine and beautiful antiquities, and he
was only conventionally secretive about his activities as a gentleman
dealer. He would have claimed, almost certainly, that he did not sell
objects he had himself excavated. Objects acquired in a division with the
Antiquities Service were in his day legitimately the property of the exca-
vating authority or individual, and, as has been pointed out, it did some-
times happen that objects might be sold by excavators to finance further
work, or to cover other costs. Objects which turned up on the market
could in some cases be assigned with certainty to particular sources, even
particular excavations, and Carter had a good record of trying from time
to time to alert excavators when he came across pieces in dealers’ shops
which could be retrieved for the archaeological record. But most objects
in the shops were not easily assignable, and they were, he surely felt, fair
game for purchase. He had in his possession at the time of his death a
small collection of Egyptian antiquities, including a few important pieces
like the faience sphinx of Amenophis III. Such were the objects on
which he had tested Cyril Aldred, who did not remember that sphinx,
but did recall one identifiable piece from Tutankhamun’s tomb, a small
shabti-£ig\nc which Carter kept on his desk. Aldred believed that Carter
may have been allowed to take this piece, one only of many similar in the
tomb, as a token ‘keep-sake’ of his long endeavours, which had enriched
the Cairo Museum so magnificently.

The same was less likely to have been the case with a group of objects
inscribed with Tutankhamun’s names, and therefore almost certainly
from the tomb. It cannot be proved that Carter himself took them from
the tomb; it seems, on the contrary, more likely that he withdrew them
from the Carnarvon collection, as has already been suggested, at the time
when it was packed up and sent to the Bank of England. The ultimate
fate of these objects will be described later. For the present discussion it
is important to state that there is no evidence that Carter ever sold
Tutankhamun objects in his lifetime. He may have given some small
pieces to friends and others to whom he felt particularly indebted, but it

447

HOWARD CARTER

is impossible now to determine the circumstances of any particular gift.
Nearly all the pieces thought to have been given by him were what may
be termed ‘odds and ends’, parts of larger pieces of jewellery, for
example, the debris of the early depredations by robbers in the tomb.
The matter may be capable of elucidation by further enquiry, but any
result is very unlikely to show that Carter was criminally profligate in the
distribution of Tutankhamun pieces to others. He was like Petrie and
other archaeologists of his time, being in the habit of handing out
archaeological trifles to visitors. It was no uncommon experience to have
visitors to the British Museum bring in antiquities presented by Carter to
parents or relatives, and inevitably carrying by implication the cachet of
Tutankhamun’s tomb. These gifts were always genuine but very ordinary
pieces which could at that time be almost trawled on the surface of the
Theban Necropolis. Carter presumably had a boxful of such ‘going-
home’ presents.

The one Tutankhamun piece in his possession of real importance
(although almost duplicated by another in Cairo) was a glass head-rest or
‘pillow’ with a gold band and an identifying text. Carter may at one point
have been tempted to sell it through Messrs Spink and Son of King
Street, St James’s, once one of the foremost dealers in Egyptian antiqui-
ties in London. A letter from the firm to Carter, dated 7 May 1930, 12
refers to a possible client for the ‘pillow’ and contains the words,
‘knowing that you will rely on me to see that the secrecy of the transac-
tion, should it come off, will be observed — my man I think can be
described as a real sportsman - and hoping that you will let me show it
to him.’ Nothing came of this suggestion, and a further letter from
Spink’s, dated 21 May 1930, refers to Carter’s having taken away the
‘pillow’ and another piece. L ’ Nothing in this correspondence confirms
that Carter was actually contemplating a sale. He scarcely needed the
money at that time. Possibly he had deposited the pieces with Spinks for
safe-keeping while he was in Egypt for the winter, as he valued the head-
rest very highly (at that time £15,000 according to Spink’s). Spink’s had
then been tempted to test the possibility of a sale when a suitable client
presented himself. There is no convincing evidence that Carter had
suggested the sale, and none that he ever put the piece up for sale during
the next nine years. It was still in his possession when he died. Newberry
claimed in a letter to Gardiner that he had no idea that Carter had taken

12 G.I. Carter Papers 227.

1 3 With Jonathan Carter.

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NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

objects from the tomb until a few months before he died. 14 He said that
according to Carter’s own inventory he valued the head-rest at £10,000.
Valuation is one thing, sale is another. The position remains sadly
compromised as far as Carter was concerned, although not as badly as
has sometimes been thought.

A further comment on this sensitive subject is that the antiquities in
his possession at death, after the extraction of the Tutankhamun objects,
were valued for probate by Messrs Spink at £1093. 13 This was certainly a
low valuation, as was not uncommon for probate purposes, but it does
give some indication of the relatively modest nature of his private collec-
tion. And finally, it may be said that any fine small object of Eighteenth-
Dynasty date which turned up in a private collection or on the market in
the 1 920s and 1 930s was almost without fail attributed to Tutankhamun’s
tomb. Attribution by inference or association is a very uncertain method
of determining provenance, or of ascribing improper behaviour to an
excavator.

The dealing activities which Carter pursued for a great part of his
career continued in his later years, but with less intensity and with greater
concentration, as far as Egyptian antiquities were concerned, on what
might be called targetted sales. The records are not substantial, but corre-
spondence survives with dealers like Khawam Bros, with oudets in Cairo
and Paris (from whom he purchased pieces for the Detroit Institute of
Arts), and another Paris dealer, Eustache de Lorey. 16 The transaction
concerning a pair of pieces, a fine head of Ramesses II and a figure of a
falcon (hawk), indicate the scale, intricacy and leisurely progress of the
business. The first mention of the two pieces in the surviving documen-
tation occurs in a letter from Herbert Winlock to Carter on 8 September
1930: 1 ‘If you have not already gotten rid of your hawk and your head of
Ramses II, could you let me have photographs of them? I think I may
know someone who might be interested in them.’ Carter answered
promptly: ‘Alas, the National Art Fund are buying the two pieces for the
B.M. — that is they have the option up to the Midsummer 1931, to
purchase them for 10,000£.’ H.R.H. Hall, the Keeper of Egyptian and

14 G.I. Gardiner Corr. AHG/42. 222. 54.

15 A copy of the probate valuation is in the library of the Department of Egyptian Antiq-
uities, British Museum. For a study of the objects see N. Reeves ‘Howard Carter’s
Collection of Egyptian and Classical Antiquities’, in E. Goring and others (eds.), Chief
of Seers (London, 1997), pp. 242ff.

16 With Jonathan Carter.

17 In M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files, also Carter’s reply.

449

HOWARD CARTER

Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, was eager to secure the
acquisition through this organization devoted to obtaining important
works of art for national and local museums and galleries in Great
Britain. Unfortunately Hall died in the following October and in the end
the Fund was not able to help. What then happened to the pieces is
uncertain. Sale negotiations went underground, and when they became
evident again in 1934 Carter had acquired a partner in the form of Welles
Bosworth, architect of John D. Rockefeller Jr, who lived in Paris.
Together they used as an intermediary Eustache de Lorey, who with
Bosworth ‘worked out a scheme of strategy by which he alone is visible .
. . We are angling for two or three different fish, but feel confident that
we shall be able to accomplish something.’ 18 Eventually in June 1934 de
Lorey concluded a sale to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for £7000,
considerably less than Carter had originally expected; but a price
reflecting the financial problems of the time.

The cloak-and-dagger means by which this sale was accomplished
suggests that Carter, and probably Bosworth, were trying to minimize
their declared income. Carter in particular was having problems with the
Income Tax authorities in Britain now that he was spending longer
summers in the country, and no doubt wished to conceal his profits on
dealing. His declared income for 1928 was £1666 10s. 6d., and for 1929
£2264 18s. Id.; the 1929 figure was made up of annuity (£1000), divi-
dends (£413), interest on deposit account (£129), and earnings from
newspapers (£721). 19 These figures did not include what he may have
earned in Egypt by way of dealing and of income from Egyptian govern-
ment stocks and interest on bank deposits. It was a very satisfactory
financial situation for a man whose expectations had been rather modest
up to the Great War.

Inevitably the Inland Revenue began probing his situation and chal-
lenging his status, on which he could base the allowance of certain
expenses. A characteristically perverse correspondence was conducted
between the Inland Revenue and Frere Cholmeley on Carter’s behalf in
1931 as to whether Carter was liable to pay Income Tax in Great Britain.
One may enjoy at this distance the statement in a letter from the

18 Letter to Carter of 23 March 1934 in the possession of Jonathan Carter. The falcon
now carries the Metropolitan Museum number 34.2.1, and the head 34.2.2. The latter
has recently been identified as a head of Amenmesse, a king of the late Nineteenth
Dynasty; see P. Cardon in Metropolitan Museum Journal 14 (1979), pp. 5f

19 Papers including the figures of his earnings, letters to his solicitors and correspond-
ence with the Tax Inspector, all with Jonathan Carter.

450

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

Inspector of Taxes of 11 September 1931: ‘It is not clear that Mr.
Howard Carter is assessable as an Archaeologist.’ And even more teasing
are the comments in a letter of 27 May 1 932:

It is not in dispute that Mr. Carter has been engaged as an archaeolo-
gist during the past three years. On the facts available, however, I am

unable to agree that his activities in this direction have constituted the

carrying on of a trade or profession.

Unfortunately the outcome of the negotiation is not known, but Carter
may well have been obliged to pay some tax. He would therefore have
appreciated the surreptitious sale of the falcon and head of Ramesses II
in 1934.

Throughout his life Howard Carter had been careful in money
matters, that is in the management of his own affairs, even if he allowed
himself to become accustomed to a style of life which needed a substan-
tial income to support it. He was prudent in negotiating his agency
agreements with museums, and took sensible steps to ensure that his
major lecture tour in America was accomplished to his financial advan-
tage. One of the most sensible arrangements he made was the purchase
of his annuity of £1000 from the Standard Life Assurance Co., probably
in 1924 after returning from America. It was certainly being paid by 1928
in twice-yearly instalments into his account in the National Bank of
Egypt. He later made enquiries about an annuity for his brother William
from Standard Life in August 1932. William was then 69, and for an
annuity of £160, Howard Carter would have had to pay £1707 Is. 4d. 2 " It
is not sure whether he completed the transaction. Such an apparently
small sum, amounting to about £3 per week, would have been at the time
a very useful supplement to William’s uncertain income from portrait
painting. His friends clearly thought that Carter had been very sensible in
securing his financial future in this way, and sought his advice on the
subject. One who considered the matter seriously was Axel Munthe, who
asked Carter to find out what a £1000 annuity would cost him in 1931, at
the age of 75. His solicitors looked into the matter and obtained a quota-
tion of £11,000 from Sun of Canada, and another of about £11,500 from
the Norwich Union. Again it is not known if Munthe followed up the
advice. As he lived for another eighteen years, it would have been a wise
arrangement at that time.

20 Letters on the annuities of A. Munthe and William Carter are with Jonathan Carter.

451

HOWARD CARTER

Carter’s life, after the completion of the work on the tomb of
Tutankhamun and in the laboratory, was divided as before, between
London and Luxor. Its content, however, changed dramatically. No
longer had he to gird himself annually for the seemingly inevitable
confrontation with the Antiquities Service after his return to Cairo in the
early autumn. He could now contemplate a much less aggravated exist-
ence, living quietly in his house on the hill of Elwat el-Diban. How he
spent his time is scarcely known. Dr Harold Plenderleith recalled his life
in Thebes in the mid-1920s as being very comfortable, with memories of
a house much above the standard for field bases, and of frequent cham-
pagne. 21 He entertained guests from time to time. Professor Magdi
Wahba of Cairo University remembered being taken to lunch in Carter’s
house with his parents in about 1936; he recollected a good meal, Carter
an excellent host but given to nervous giggling. On occasion Carter had
visitors to stay. In 1931 his niece Phyllis Walker spent much of the season
with him. He appreciated her presence, and wrote to Winlock, 22 ‘I have
brought my niece out this season so have good company.’ The daughter
of his sister, and favourite, Amy, at the end she became his principal
legatee. While she was in Luxor Phyllis annotated a picture postcard of
the house — what she called Lm Maison Cartaire. Having indicated the use
of various rooms, she adds, ‘The rest is desert! All in mud colour - I play
“sister Anne” at the window sometimes to watch the sunset.’ In 1934
Harry Burton wrote to Percy Newberry: 2 ’

We’ve only seen Carter once, or rather twice, since we came. He had a
man named Carter, no relation, staying with him and they went down
to Cairo by boat a few days after we got here. H. was in great form.

From all his last years there have survived scarcely any documents, or
even signs in letters, that he was doing any serious work on his publica-
tion. His own collection of reference books was not extensive, but there
were local resources in Luxor that he could have used. There was an
excellent library in the Metropolitan House, and another growing rapidly
in Chicago House. He would have been welcome in both places. For a

21 These remarks are based on personal reminiscences of Dr H. Plenderleith and the late
Professor Magdi Wahba.

22 Letter of 13 November 1931, in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

The Phyllis Walker postcard is with Jonathan Carter.

23 G.I. Newberry Corr. 6/109.

452

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

person with not enough to do, compared with his old intensive existence,
life in Luxor could become enervating. There was always the possibility
of wasting time, and the danger of a relaxation of values in day-to-day
behaviour. In general Carter seems to have kept up appearances. The
picture remains one of a very conventional Englishman abroad, carefully
dressed in a three-piece suit, wearing a bow-tie, sporting a Homburg hat
and carrying a walking stick. He is said to have taken his style of dress
from Lord Carnarvon and to have used the same tailor and other
tradesmen in London. It was a casually formal style, elegant and distin-
guished, but not too precise. How then should one interpret an incident
reported by Dr Harold Nelson to Charles Breasted in October, 1928? 24

Carter, I understand, came down to call the other afternoon, clad in
his pyjamas, but when he reached the corner of our house he discov-
ered Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. Edgerton on the porch and beat a hasty
retreat. Why this sudden modesty?

This encounter may have formed the one memorable visit of the season
for Chicago House. Charles Breasted commented in reply: While I am
surprised that he beat a hasty retreat, I am still more surprised that he
bothered to bring pyjamas!’ Nelson next wrote in November, ‘This letter
was interrupted by a call from Carter, this time clothed.’ The whole
episode seems so out of character for Carter, and undoubtedly made a
deep impression on Harold Nelson.

The common remembrance of Carter in Luxor in the later 1 930s was
one of a man who had to a great extent given up on the work which had
determined his life for such a long time; who, as his health deteriorated
over the decade, spent his time increasingly across the river in Luxor
town, in the dealers’ shops and the Winter Palace Hotel, where he had
been made very welcome over many years by Anton Badrutt, the general
manager. Professor Charles Nims of the Oriental Institute of the Univer-
sity of Chicago was on the staff of Chicago House before the Second
World War, and wrote many years later of Carter’s way of life at the time: 25

Carter did almost nothing after the closing of the Tutankhamun
concession in 1931. In 1937—38 I used to meet him in the morning on

24 Letters in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. Nelson 1928.

25 Letter of 1 July 1981 to Dr William Peck in the Detroit Institute of Arts, who kindly
sent me a copy.

453

HOWARD CARTER

the west side of the Nile as I was going to spend the day at Medinet
Habu and he was on his way to spend die day on the veranda of the
Winter Palace. He talked of further explorations but this was, appar-
endy only his pipe dreams.

This disappointing vignette of Carter idling his days at the Winter Palace
is supported by another provided by Sir Evelyn Wrench who wrote an
occasional piece about a visit to Egypt for the Spectator for 6 September,
1935. It was entided ‘Egypt Calls’:

No one should go to Upper Egypt unless he has steeped himself in
the wonders of the Cairo Museum — surely one of the most interesting
buildings in the world. A few days later I was hearing from the lips of
Mr. Howard Carter in the welcome cool of the vestibule of the Winter
Palace at Luxor the story of the Tutankhamen discovery.

Others have remembered seeing him sitting by himself in the entrance
hall of the same hotel, sunk in thought, and solitary — a doleful sight. It is
pitiful to think of him in his sad isolation, waiting like the Ancient
Mariner to trap some visitor to whom he might talk. He was not by any
means poor and so cannot have been hoping to be bought a drink; he
was just destitute of spirit, and a seriously ill person. Throughout his life
he had suffered from indifferent health, and, as has been suggested
earlier, many of his moods were surely the result of feeling miserably
sick. His most recent operation, to remove his tonsils in 1928, had,
however, done him a little good, as some would think. Axel Munthe
remarked in a letter written afterwards: 26 ‘The removal of your tonsils
seems to have had an invigorating effect upon your memory for your far
away and forgotten friends - so glad.’ His condition deteriorated seri-
ously from the mid-1950s, the trouble being a glandular affliction which
would be diagnosed as Hodgkin’s disease. His few letters of the period
contain little of complaint, indeed little of any specific information. But
one draft letter preserved in a notebook in the Metropolitan Museum
gives some indication of what he may have endured. It is of uncertain
date, but must have been written during the 1930s because of his
mentioning leaving London not until mid-December. In the days when
he was hard at work in the Valley he usually arrived in Egypt in the early
autumn. The addressee of the letter has not been identified:

26 Undated letter with Jonathan Carter.

454

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

Dear Princess,

Very many thanks for your letter and enquiries. I am sorry that your
stay in R . . . [? Romania, Russia] should be marred by the cold. We too
are suffering from dry cutting winds peculiar to January in these
regions. However, with them we are recompensed with brilliant sun.

I did not leave London until the second week in December. In
November my ills took a turn for the bad, but happily I found an
excellent doctor who seemed to understand my trouble. He dosed me
with arsenic and gave me deep-ray (a form of X-ray), and in the course
of a month I became another being. The misfortune was that the ray
treatment brought on a temporary form of acute nausia [sic] and loss
of the sense of taste, which was certainly a bore.

If such were his condition, then there would have been little that he
would have wanted to exert himself to do. His former pleasures of
observing the wild-life of the Theban area and of painting seemed no
longer to distract him as in the past. In his late sketches he writes with
enthusiasm, but vicariously, of the birds he used to watch in his early
days, and the memory of what he saw could still delight him. So, recalling
his time at El-Bersha, he writes of the wild-life shown on the tomb walls,
and to be seen in the neighbourhood: 2 '

The birds and animals depicted on those walls were alone enough to
keep me interested. And to my delight, upon the rock shelves of the
precipitous cliffs of that ravine a colony of griffon vultures retired for
the night - after these I loved to sneak. Nearby there was a congrega-
tion of ravens, their high-pitched croaks when soaring overhead were
our music during the day; and in the evening, skipping about like tiny
kangaroos were jerboas; most delightful little rodents with silky coats
harmonizing with the desert, large black eyes like boot-buttons, and
long tufted tails. These litde denizens of the desert, whose burrows
were but a stone’s throw from the camp, came, I suppose, seeking
food. They hunted here and there; yet they drew a continual pleasure
from their toil for a subsistence.

Such passages may be consciously composed, the memories conjured
from more than simple recollection, but they are vivid and convey a spirit
of true excitement and enthusiasm. To this quoted passage he adds a foot-

27 G.I. Carter Notebook 15, p. 28.

455

HOWARD CARTER

note in which he lists, with full Latin names, the species he claims to have
noted down, presumably at the time of observation. In a sense the footnote
spoils the effect of the text, because it reinforces the suspicion that the
whole of the writing is contrived. Nevertheless, Iris passion for the natural
phenomena of Egypt persisted, even if he did not actively engage in obser-
vation. And similarly, he apparendy abandoned painting in these last years.
His last watercolour box was retrieved from Iris house by Harry Burton
after Carter’s death, and later passed into the hands of Charles Wilkinson of
the Metropolitan Museum, an old friend of Carter’s and a very good artist
himself. It is tragic to think of Carter in his last years, when he could have
spent so much time painting and sketching, but was bereft of the spirit to
engage in what had so often been Iris consolation and delight.

Carter’s life in London during his last years was very different from his
winter existence. He effected the transition for a number of years by
travelling from Egypt to Switzerland, staying in St Moritz at the Kulm
Hotel where Anton Badrutt had become a director, if not the manager.
He had finally left Egypt after spending sixteen years as general manager
of the Upper Egyptian hotels in Luxor and Aswan. He wrote a touching
letter addressed to ‘the family of Howard Carter’ after Carter’s death,
saying that ‘my friend Howard used to spend every summer 5-6 weeks
with me at St. Moritz. Unfortunately he was not very well last summer
[1938] and my wife and I visited him in London in November last.’ 28 It is
known that Carter took a cruise in the Greek islands in the summer of
1933, but usually he passed most of the summer months in London,
probably making short visits to see friends in the country. The centre of
his life in Town was his flat. Cyril Aldred knew 2 Prince’s Gate Court, to
which Carter had moved in 1930 from 19b Collingham Gardens.
According to Aldred’s memory it was well appointed, with some fine
pieces of furniture, excellent carpets, interesting pictures and some good
silver. Carter had the time and the inclination to haunt the sale-rooms
and the dealers’ shops, and had an eye for a good bargain and for quality.
He developed a more than ordinary competence in the judging of
oriental carpets, and was from time to time consulted by private
owners. 29 Aldred remembers his showing him Iris most recent good
purchases, and formed the impression that he supplemented his income
by selling what he did not want to keep himself.

28 Dated 10 March 1939 with Jonathan Carter.

29 Letters in the possession of Jonathan Carter outline some transactions and consulta-
tions.

456

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

Carter’s voice is remembered as being rather plummy, which is
confirmed by existing recordings in the archives of the BBC. He had, it
seems, modelled himself in this respect on members of the upper class
with whom he had spent much time; but Dr Harold Plenderleith stated
that Carter took elocution lessons to improve his speaking voice for
lecturing. Aldred thought that Iris shortness with others, especially serv-
ants and people like head-waiters (or stewards on Canadian Pacific
railway trains) was a form of mannerism characteristic of ‘grand’ people
of his period. It was thought to be right and proper to be abrupt and
dismissive to such ‘underlings’. On this aspect of his character it can only
be said that his natural inclination to irascibility needed little instruction
from others, whether they were highborn or not.

In 1932 Carter moved house again, travelling a few yards only from
Prince’s Gate Court to 49 Albert Court, a flat in another fine late Victo-
rian mansion block in the precincts of the Albert Hall. The move seems
strange, for he was not improving his address. Possibly he had only a
short lease on the Prince’s Gate Court flat; perhaps the outlook was
better; perhaps the service facilities were more reliable. The accommoda-
tion in the new flat was certainly spacious for a single gentleman. From
the information in Spink’s detailed valuation of its contents, it can be
deduced that it consisted of an entrance hall, drawing room, dining-
room, study, serving room, bedroom, housekeeper’s sitting room,
kitchen, bathroom, lavatory, box-room, and additional storage space
‘upstairs’. There was no guest bedroom, and it may be supposed that if
he ever had visitors to stay he put them up elsewhere. When he was not
out in London, being entertained, or away in the country, he lived a fairly
solitary life — the kind of life he used to claim suited him admirably. He
dined out frequently, and took guests to one of the many local hotels
with grill-rooms of the kind favoured in the 1930s. Aldred remembers
being taken to one such grill-room about five minutes’ distance away,
where Carter appeared to be a regular diner. Dr Harold Plenderleith,
whose acquaintance with Carter covered the late 1920s and early 1930s,
said drat he had a radrer grand style of living in London, his own memo-
ries, however, being coloured by expensive lunches to which Carter
entertained him after, as he put it, ‘picking my brains’.

Carter also spent time and entertained at the Savile Club which had
recendy migrated from Piccadilly to Brook Street. He had been intro-
duced to the club as a member by Percy White. He was also a member of
the Burlington Fine Arts Club in Savile Row, a haunt of members of the

457

HOWARD CARTER

artistic community with which Carter had always kept in touch through
his brother William. By the time Carter had settled more permanently in
London, Percy White seems no longer to be part of his small circle of
friends. White was 82 in 1932, and may have spent much of the year in
Roquebrune in Alpes-Maritimes in the South of France. He had been a
good friend and invaluable literary adviser to Carter since before the
Great War; one of the few people whom Carter could count as a real
friend, bridging his two lives in Egypt and in London. It is not easy to
build up a picture of Carter’s intimate acquaintanceship; it is even
possible that one did not exist. In his early days in London, before he
achieved some status and grand companions, he spent much of his time
in the company of his London-based brothers and his sister Amy, mixing
with the artistic community in Chelsea. The evidence is slight, but it does
suggest that he was particularly close to Amy. She had married a John
Walker at about the turn of the century, and there is a photographic
record in existence showing Howard Carter on holiday with the Walker
family in July-September 1901.’" Phyllis, who was Amy’s only child,
became undoubtedly Howard’s favourite relation, especially after Amy’s
early death.

After his departure from 19 Collingham Gardens in 1930 and his
difference with his brother Samuel, the only other member of his large
family he kept in regular touch with was William. He had become a
reasonably successful portrait painter, with a long list of influential
clients to his credit. In his earlier years he had done a very stylish painting
of the Earl of Carnarvon and, in 1924, the well-known, ‘standard’, full-
length portrait of Howard. William never achieved conventional recogni-
tion by the British art establishment, but he was on intimate terms with
many who had become Royal Academicians and Associates. When he
died his executor was Sir Henry Rushbury, a most distinguished architec-
tural artist and Keeper of the Royal Academy from 1949 to 1964. M
Through William, Howard could keep in touch with at least some of the
artistic circles in the capital. William, who was eleven years Howard’s
senior, survived his young brother by only a few months, although he
was fit enough to attend Howard’s funeral.

It would be a mistake to claim that Carter lost all contact with other
members of his family during his last years. The evidence just does not
exist to support the other conclusion. It will be seen that he may have set

30 Formerly in the possession of Miss Ivy Wilson. Now in the Swaffham Museum.

31 I am grateful to Julia Rushbury for information about William Carter.

458

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

up his brother Vernet’s widow, Audrey, in a cottage in Norfolk, but again
there are no substantive details of the regularity of his visits to see her.
There is also no evidence that he returned to Swaffham during the 1930s.
His two maiden aunts who had been partly responsible for his early
upbringing were dead, Fanny in 1913, and Catherine in 1929. There were
plenty of other Carter relations in and around Swaffham, but he felt no
close ties to them, and may even have feared exploitation. Miss Ivy
Wilson, who lived in Swaffham until her death in 1993, and who as a
little girl lived near the Sporle Road Cottage, and ran errands for the
Carter family recalled visits by Howard Carter during the summers in the
1920s. She remembered him wearing cream-coloured suits and looking
very tanned; she thought he was Egyptian. Her memories were dimmed,
but she believed his visits were eagerly expected as occasions for
presents all round. Of her own contacts with him, she could only
remember cold ‘thank you’s’ as she handed him the post which she had
brought to the cottage from Swaffham.

If it is difficult to discover even in general outline the course of
Howard Carter’s professional activities in Egypt on occasion, it is practi-
cally impossible to determine the order of his private life in London. No
diaries of his last years can be traced, and few letters have survived.
There is no reason to believe, however, that he cleared the record before
he died, for many trivial letters have survived which would surely not
have been spared in any general clear-out. More is known about his
grand, occasional friends than his regular acquaintances. One must
suppose that he knew many people, and that he was until his very last
year or two always welcome at the dinner-tables of London hostesses -
many invitations have survived; but such occasions do not represent
indications of true friendship.’ 2 Throughout his life, the signs suggest
that he did not make close friendships, but was content to maintain good
relations with a wide range of people whom he was pleased to see inter-
mittently and to stay with from time to time.

Carter did not seek out Egyptological colleagues as companions, and
Percy Newberry was the only one whom he saw regularly in England.
Newberry remained a staunch supporter of Carter, and he and his wife
regularly entertained Carter at their various houses in the country
throughout his life. He seems to have formed a warm friendship with
Mrs. Newberry, taking a great interest in her own speciality, needlework,
and seemingly escaping from Egyptology in her company. In spite of

32 A large number of invitations with Jonathan Carter.

459

HOWARD CARTER

his manifest success as an archaeologist, he retained a kind of inferiority
complex over his general skills as an academic Egyptologist; he seemed
almost to avoid the company of professional colleagues, as if he might
suffer some form of exposure of ignorance. He was essentially an artist
and a man of practical abilities, to whom scholarship in the strictest
sense did not come naturally. He would not commonly have sought out
colleagues to discuss Egyptological interests and problems in a general
way, although he would readily talk to them about particular matters
connected with his work in hand. When he came to draw up his will in
1931 he chose as executors, from among his friends and colleagues,
Harry Burton and Bruce Ingram, a strangely assorted pair but yet
representative of different sides of his life. From the Egyptological side,
Burton was perhaps an obvious choice. He was not exactly a bosom
friend, but he had worked closely with Howard Carter for ten years; he
knew the Egyptian half of Carter’s life, and the Luxor scene in partic-
ular; he would probably be on hand in Egypt to handle the winding-up
of Carter’s estate there. Bruce Ingram, the editor of the Illustrated London
News, represented the London side of Carter’s life. It is some indication
of how little is known of Carter’s private life that Ingram appears
almost from nowhere in the position of executor.” His association,
even friendship, with Carter must have developed in the late 1920s.
There was an historic connection between the Carter family and the
Illustrated London News. Carter’s father had been the agricultural illus-
trator for the magazine for many years before his death in 1 892, long
before Bruce Ingram took over the editorship of what was an Ingram
family publication. His own Carter involvement began in December
1922, with a letter starting ‘My dear Sir’. 54 Ingram was of course eager
to publish photographs of the Tutankhamun discovery, and he
succeeded in negotiating a special agreement with Carnarvon and The
Times to have exceptional facilities, including the sole rights to publica-
tion in colour. The quality of the photographic reproductions in the
Illustrated London News far exceeded what was possible for daily newspa-
pers to accomplish, and the special issues put out by Ingram made a
huge impact on the public. They also did no harm to the success of the
periodical, and during the summer of 1 923 Ingram cemented a relation-
ship with Howard Carter, through a number of meetings and social

33 Unfortunately all Illustrated ljondon News records pre-Second World War were destroyed
by bombing.

34 Letter of 29 December 1922 in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

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entertainments. 35 In the course of these meetings he would certainly
have been told of Carter’s father’s association with the publication; he
also discovered Carter’s own graphic talent. In the issue of 17
November 1923 he published a most sensitive drawing by Carter of a
figure of Khaemhet, a vizir of King Amenophis III, from his tomb at
Thebes. It was executed in Carter’s best epigraphic style, and Ingram
rightly characterized Carter as a ‘first-class artist’. It was the first of a
number of Carter drawings and watercolours published in the Illustrated
London Neirs over the years, in addition to regular helpings of material
from Tutankhamun’s tomb. Carter did not always respond as promptly
as Bruce Ingram would have wished. In November 1925, after the reve-
lation of the rich accoutrements on the royal body, Ingram wrote to
Percy Newberry: 36

Carter’s discoveries are enough to make anyone’s mouth water and
mine is positively dribbling. If only he can square the authorities, I will
make such a number that will never be forgotten, but what the hopes
are I don’t know as Carter seems even worse than I am about letter
writing.

The feudal character of the ownership of the Illustrated London News,
and the almost hereditary nature of the Carter family connection through
Samuel and Howard, probably encouraged a closer association between
Ingram and Carter than might have been expected. The two must have
developed a good, if occasional, friendship over the years, but the
surviving record totally lacks details of how this friendship was main-
tained. The same is the case for other friends and acquaintanceships
which, one may suspect, Carter revived or allowed to lie fallow as time
and circumstances permitted. What, for example, happened to Louis
Steele? A letter of 5 August 1920, written by Steele to Carter from H.M.
Dockyard Portsmouth, starts ‘My dear old Carter’, and is couched in
familiar and friendly terms; 37 it was about the chemical technology of
glass-making, a subject of particular interest to Carter and Lord
Carnarvon at that time. Who could this old friend be? By chance a
collection of photographs taken by Louis John Steele was presented to
the Swaffham Museum in 1987; they illustrated many objects, and scenes

35 Notes in Carter’s Pocket Diary for 1923 in Griffith Institute, Carter Papers.

36 G.I. Newberry Corr. 26/21.

37 M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

461

HOWARD CARTER

of excavation from the Carnarvon- Carter explorations in the Theban
Necropolis before the Great War, and point to a fairly long stay, or more
than one stay, by Louis Steele while the excavators were at work. Nothing
further is known of Steele; it may be that he was only a passing acquaint-
ance, who happened to be in Luxor at a suitable time to be helpful; who
could then be approached on a particular matter - glass - many years
later. A slight impression is gained that Carter probably had a talent for
making himself friendly to new acquaintances, but very little ability, or
inclination, to keep them.

The friendships about which a little is known are with important
people, whose letters Carter sometimes kept, like the Crown Prince of
Sweden, the Duke of Alba, Axel Munthe. The Duke of Alba, perhaps
more than the others, maintained contact over a longer period of time.
After Carter’s visits to Madrid in 1924 and 1928, the Duke continued to
see Carter when he came to London, and they may also have met in Swit-
zerland during Carter’s annual visits to the Kulm Hotel in St Moritz. He
last tried to see Carter on 13 February 1939, and wrote to him afterwards
having heard ‘you are laid up and have a nurse in attendance. I hope it is
nothing very serious, and I shall be glad to have news of you.’ 38 The Axel
Munthe relationship may have been more one-sided. Cyril Aldred said
that Carter did not care for him very much. It may be suspected, from
the tone of Munthe’s surviving letters, that he was too persistent in
exploiting Carter’s willingness to be helpful in matters like visits to the
tomb of Tutankhamun, especially when there were difficulties. It was for
this purpose that he had first got to know Carter through the recommen-
dations of Lord Allenby and Rennell Rodd.

To be a long-term friend of Howard Carter one surely needed to be a
pretty tolerant person or a connoisseur of astringent and testy behaviour,
someone always ready to make allowances for moods and furies. Cyril
Aldred formed the opinion that he did not spare whatever company he
was in if he felt inclined to disagree with what might have been said. He
recalled having heard of an occasion when Carter was distincdy short to
Lauritz Melchior, the famous Swedish Wagnerian Heldentenor. Melchior, it
seems, had made some fatuous general statement, and Carter answered,
‘That is spherical and in the plural.’ The story may be apocryphal, but it
probably well represents the style of repartee Carter made use of. In spite
of having mixed in grand company over many years Carter seemed to

38 Surviving Alba letters and later Munthe letters are with Jonathan Carter. Some early

Munthe letters in M.M.A., Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

462

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

have remained rather uncertain of himself, exhibiting a kind of irascible
shyness, uneasy and yet rather pompous. Carter may not often have been
invited twice by the same hostess; but there were many who were eager
to take the risk. Carter might enliven a dull gathering.

Welles Bosworth, the American partner in Carter’s somewhat clandes-
tine dealing venture in 1934, wrote enthusiastically to James Henry
Breasted about a brief visit Carter made to Paris in May of that year: 39

Howard Carter passed through last week on his way to London, and
came over for coffee with us, as he had an hour to go from one station
to the other. He is in fine form these days and, with his wonderful
sense of humor, is a most enjoyable person. Some lady expressed
disappointment at his not remembering her, and reminded him of
how she had met him in 1924 (or was it 1923?) and he said ‘My dear
lady, you really can’t blame me if I don’t remember you. I met just
78,642 people that winter, and showed the tomb to most of them.’

Not the kind of humour that everyone would appreciate.

Warmth in friendship did not come easily to Carter, and there is very
little evidence that even the kind of enthusiasm shown by Welles
Bosworth was commonly expressed by Carter’s acquaintances. To that
extent his life was indeed lonely; he could find companionship, but rarely
the kind of intimacy which true friendship brings. He may have found it
with Percy White, but the signs suggest only that they enjoyed each
others’ company while they were together, but that little contact was
maintained by correspondence. Carter’s companionship was that of the
club; one that ended after dinner, and a post-dinner chat over a drink.
There is no sign of any closer attachment, male or female, throughout his
life. Cyril Aldred reported a suggestion by Charles Wilkinson, who knew
Carter well at Thebes for many years, that he had a French mistress; but
sadly Wilkinson, with the coy restraint of his generation, would not
enlarge on what he had hinted at. A rumour from rural Norfolk that
Carter had a cottage in North Creake where a French lady kept a
welcoming establishment for his occasional visits turned out to be
equally disappointing. The cottage, possibly purchased by Carter himself,
was occupied by Vernet Carter’s widow Audrey. The search for more
substantial liaisons has yielded nothing. The one claim for greater
consideration is the attachment between himself and Lady Evelyn

39 in O.I. Director’s Office Corr. 1934.

463

HOWARD CARTER

Herbert, which supposedly blossomed into something more serious
during the time when Tutankhamun’s tomb was first excavated. The
evidence for such an ‘affair’ is said to be found in the circumstances of
the falling-out between Carnarvon and Carter in the spring of 1923,
which has already been discussed as being differently based; 40 and also a
letter written to Carter by Lady Evelyn on Boxing Day (the day after
Christmas Day) 1922. This letter has also been partly quoted in support
of the claim that entrance was made into the Burial Chamber of the
tomb by Carter and the Carnarvon party shortly after the tomb was first
entered. In view of the alleged amorous implications of the letter, it
seems proper to quote it in extenso : 41

Dearest Howard,

I would like to think this letter would reach you on New Year’s Day,
but alas it won’t though it will get to you quicker than if I posted it. My
dear I wish you just the very best of everything. May you be as happy as
you are successful and for many, many years — bless you — you deserve it.
By now you are world-renowned and your name dear will be added to
the famous men in the annals of history. It is wonderful and I wish you
could have flown to England if only for a few hours, for the genuine,
universal interest and excitement that your Discovery has created would
have thrilled you with pleasure and would have justly rewarded the many
years of labour and disappointment that you have had.

Of course one is pestered, morning, noon and night, and I know you
are too. There was no place or hour that one was not met by a ‘reporter’
when we first returned. Pups really has had a lot of work to do and was
somewhat fatigued when we came down here Sat.[urday]. However, he
revels in it all, and when slighdy weary calls me in to tell him again and
again of the ‘Holy of Holies’, which always acts like a magnum of cham-
pagne! I can never drank you sufficiently for allowing me to enter its
precincts. It was the Great Moment of my life. More I cannot say, except
that I am panting to return to you.

Bless you. My best love

Yrs truly grateful and affect.

Eve.

40 See p. 294 above.

41 The Christmas letters of 1922 are in Department of Egyptian Art, Carter

files. Hoving, Tutankhamun . The Untold Story, pp. 107, 222, seems to overestimate the
significance of the Evelyn Herbert letter.

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NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

That this letter is no more than an effusive expression of thanks and
good wishes from a young and affectionate lady, a product of her times -
the post-War 1920s — becomes apparent when set beside other letters
written to Howard Carter at the same time, and from Highclere Castle.
Lady Carnarvon, also on Boxing Day, writes, ‘My dear Howard, This line
is to send you my love and every blessing in the coming year.’ After four
pages of news and congratulations, she ends, ‘With much love and every
good wish for the New Year. Yrs aftly [affectionately], Almina
Carnarvon.’ Someone else, who signs herself Dorothy D., writes on
Christmas Day, ‘Dearest Howard. This, my Dear, to tell you, how just
wonderful it all is, and how How pleased I am for you.’ She ends, ‘All the best
of everything to you in the New Year and all happiness and my love.’ Carter
was clearly very much in favour at Highclere Castle at Christmas 1922.
Apart from anything else, he had at last more than fulfilled the hopes of
Lord Carnarvon, and for that he deserved everyone’s gratitude.

In view of his outstanding success, Carter received little in the way of
formal honours. His professional achievement was recognized by his
Yale doctorate, and Corresponding Membership of the Royal Academy
of History, Madrid. Yet he was denied the Spanish decoration, organized
by the Duke of Alba. 42 In 1 926 he received a decoration from the King
of Egypt, and permission from the Residency in Cairo to wear it. He was
also decorated by the King of the Belgians, presumably a late recognition
of his courtesy to the Queen of the Belgians (if not of his exasperation
with Jean Capart). Its award was attended by an odd intervention by
Carter’s friend Anton Badrutt, the General Manager of the Winter Palace
Hotel. He wrote to Carter on 16 December 1931 expressing his indigna-
tion at the delay in his receiving this decoration from the King of the
Belgians, and he said that he had written to someone to find out why. It
is not clear what reason Badrutt, a Swiss, had for acting in this way,
unless he was acting as the honorary consul of Belgium in Luxor at that
time. Eventually Carter was informed that on 6 May 1932 the King had
conferred on him the decoration of Commandeur de l’ordre de Leopold
II. On 20 May he received a letter from Buckingham Palace instructing
him that he had restricted permission to wear the insignia of the Order
but, in effect, only in Belgium and on occasions elsewhere, including
Britain, when Belgium was involved.

He was never honoured by the British monarch, or by a British univer-
sity, and surprise has often been expressed at this neglect. To take

42 Documents concerning his various decorations are with Jonathan Carter.

465

HOWARD CARTER

Academe first, it must be said that Carter, having no formal educational
background, and displaying in Iris published work no remarkable
command of a scholarly apparatus or outstanding intellectual capacity,
was not superficially a candidate for formal academic honours. He had
no active supporters in the British Egyptological field (which was
remarkably rich in talent in the 1920s), who were so placed as to be able
to promote his claims. Newberry, his greatest advocate, had left his chair
in Liverpool in 1919, and his successor, T. E. Peet, had no particular
reason to put Carter’s name forward for an honorary degree. In Oxford,
Francis LI. Griffith may never have considered the matter, being himself
unconcerned with worldly honours. Flinders Petrie in University College
London would not have put himself out in such a cause. The British
Academy in its representation on the joint Archaeological Committee of
Britain, was institutionally a signatory of the statement of support for
Carter issued in 1924; but Carter would not have been thought a suitable
candidate for Fellowship. In fact, Carter did not fit into any of the cate-
gories which commonly take someone forward, almost inexorably, to
academic honours when the circumstances are right.

A similar reason may be adduced for his failure to receive any royal
honour in Britain. It is necessary for someone or some institution to put
forward a name and a recommendation; each application is considered,
and accepted or rejected. There is little doubt that the Earl of
Carnarvon would have pressed Carter’s case hard, had he lived. The
next likely source for action would probably have been the Residency in
Cairo. Unfortunately, the problems over the work in the tomb in 1923—
4 put Carter in an unfavourable position for recommendation and
presumably his name, even if brought up, was passed over or set on one
side for future consideration. There were others among his friends and
supporters who might have initiated an award, and his name could have
been considered from the very top; for it is known that King George V
was very interested in the work at Thebes. But without proper promo-
tion nothing normally will happen, and it must be supposed that in the
end it was Carter’s contrary behaviour that spoilt his chances. It has
been suggested that he may have been offered some relatively modest
honour, for example, one of the lower classes of the Order of the
British Empire, and that in disgust he refused to allow his name to go
forward; there is no evidence to support such a suggestion. It neverthe-
less remains strange that the man who had made such a wonderful
discovery and become so feted and favoured in other ways should have

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NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

been, as seems certainly to have been the case, passed over for formal
honours.

In view of the extraordinary interest taken in the tomb of
Tutankhamun since the late 1960s when great exhibitions were organ-
ized out of Egypt, coupled with the vast increase in tourism in Egypt one
focus of which has been the Cairo Museum with its Tutankhamun
galleries, it is surprising to consider the relatively low level of interest
shown generally in the 1930s. The spectacular publicity which greeted
the original discovery and every important stage of revelation subse-
quently seemed to have exhausted the public passion for news. Carter
himself had in a sense worked the tomb and its treasures out of his
system. Illness and the lack of support and encouragement from
someone like Alan Gardiner, who rarely passed a day without spending
many hours on his Egyptological researches, drained Carter’s enthusiasm
and sense of purpose. Even if he could not vigorously tackle the writing
of his final six-volume report, he might have maintained public interest
and his own resolve by giving public lectures. He would certainly have
found ready audiences even in Britain which, in this century at least, has
never exhibited the kind of enthusiasm found in America for serious
presentations. Carter did speak occasionally in the early 1930s, for
example to the Institute of Public Hygiene in September 1932 on ‘The
Contribution of Ancient Egypt to the Progress of the World’ — the
surviving notes do not suggest an inspiring text — and to an unspecified
audience at the Victoria and Albert Museum in October 1934 on
‘Colour’. 4 ’ This second lecture had the merit of including some personal
and original thoughts on colour in general, and on its use by ancient
Egyptian artists; but the preamble with which he began was poorly
judged, at least by later twentieth-century standards. Carter’s arch
attempt at a light touch seems badly pitched:

I see before me an array of ladies who, from their childhood, have
studied the pleasurable emotions of attractiveness — the art of agree-
ment of pattern and style, matching ribbons, and discovering that
which is most fitted for both character and dress — in which the func-
tion of colour is foremost.

In fact, I feel about as impertinent were I to advise a drake upon his
Spring plumage.

43 Notes on both lectures are in the possession of Jonathan Carter.

467

HOWARD CARTER

Otherwise, his life apparently fell away into inactivity and loss of
interest; there is very little surviving documentation to support a view
that his daily regime was other than one of unadventurous existence. The
progress of his life, made increasingly burdensome by illness, passed into
a steady decline in his last years, which brought him by early 1939 to a
condition which required a nurse in attendance. At this time his regular,
if not constant, companion was his niece, Phyllis Walker. She was the
secretary of Lady Dawson of Penn, 44 and lived across the Park in
Nutford Place near Marble Arch. She kept a general eye on his condition
and on the attention he received, but there was little that could be done
to prevent the inevitable end. His death certificate gives two causes of
death, cardiac failure and lymphadenoma, the former being the imme-
diate cause, and the latter the effective cause. Carter’s condition would
now be described as malignant lymphoma, or, less technically, Hodgkin’s
disease. It is marked by an enlargement of the lymphatic tissues and
spleen, and considered to be a cancerous condition. For Howard Carter
it was surely a seriously debilitating condition, leading to a painful and
miserable death. But at least he died in his own bed at 49 Albert Court;
Phyllis was present at the conclusion of his long struggle, on 2 March
1939.

His burial in Putney Vale Cemetery has been described in the opening
pages of this book. The smallness of the company attending gives some
indication of his circle of friends and relatives. The ‘floral tributes’, which
were listed by the undertaker, enlarge their numbers, but not substan-
tially: 4 ’ Mr and Mrs Ernest Duveen, Almina, Countess of Carnarvon,
Lady Pinching and Adrienne and John Dunn-Yarker, Bruce and Amy
Ingram, Major and Mrs H. E. Bradley, Mai Mond, Edgar Carter and
family (in Birmingham), Mr and Mrs Maurice Silverston, the Earl of
Carnarvon, Mr and Mrs O. Gutekunst, Mrs Emile Mond, Lady Selsdon
and family, A. M. Parsons and family, Lady Evelyn Beauchamp, Phyllis
Walker, Averil Ingram, and his nurse. The list contains no Egyptologist,
although Gerald Wainwright, a former Inspector in the Antiquities
Service and something of an outsider in British Egyptological circles,
attended in person. His brother William and his nephew Samuel John
were also there as family representatives. For the rest, his departure was
noted and attended by society friends. It was indeed an unrepresentative

44 Lord Dawson of Penn was Physician in Ordinary to King George V and Queen Mary.

45 The details are in the possession of Jonathan Carter, who also has the letter from

Carter’s servants.

468

NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

and muted farewell to one whose name, Evelyn Herbert had said, ‘will be
added to the famous men in the annals of history’. There were others
who mourned his death, of whom his house servants at Elwat el-Diban
provided the most touching tribute. It is addressed to ‘Sir Miss Phyllis
Walker Nutfield House Nutfield Place Marble Arch London’:

Respectifully we have heard with illness by the death of our Head Dr.
H. Carter we and our famillies and all the native of our country and
Egypt, ill. I have sarved Dr. H. Carter 42 years pass well. This notice ill
us much spacially about us your most obedient servants. Sir Mr. Bartin
[Burton] gave us this notice we are ill and uncontent we are write this
letter hoping that you Miss shall be well and in a good health and you
shall be in the service of the Dr. H. Carter. We hope that you shall be
well and good health — we are waiting your notice and about health
and All.

We remain.

Your most obbedient servants

Abd-El-Aal Ahmad Sayed and Hosein Ibraheem Sayed
El-Korna Luxor Upper Egypt. Egypt 19/3/1939

By his will, made in London on 14 July 1931 and without amendment
or codicil, Howard Carter left £E1 50 to Abd el-Aal Ahmed ‘if still in my
service at my death in appreciation of his many years service.’ To his two
executors and trustees, Harry Burton and Bruce Ingram, he left £250
each. His house and contents in Thebes he left to the Metropolitan
Museum. Everything else went to Phyllis Walker, ‘and I strongly recom-
mend to her that she consult my Executors as to the advisability of
selling any Egyptian or other antiquities included in this bequest.’

The force of the advice about selling antiquities was soon brought
home to Phyllis Walker and the executors when the contents of the flat
were examined. Among the antiquities was a small number of pieces
which could without question be identified as having come from the
tomb of Tutankhamun. Their presence in Carter’s possession has been
discussed. The problem facing the executors was to decide what to do
with them. Taking advice from others, particularly Percy Newberry, the
executors removed them from the rest of the estate and decided, with
Phyllis Walker’s approval, that they should be returned to Egypt and the
Cairo Museum. This return might have been managed without too much
difficulty but for the outbreak of war, and also for the unhelpful attitude

469

HOWARD CARTER

of Rex Engelbach in the Cairo Museum, who had never been on easy
terms with Carter. At first it was thought that they could be sent back in
the Diplomatic Bag, but the Foreign Office would not countenance the
suggestion. 46 The best that Harry Burton could obtain in the way of offi-
cial co-operation was an undertaking from Sir Miles Lampson, the
British High Commissioner in Egypt, that he would help to arrange that
if they were imported in the ordinary way, it would be handled without
publicity. Sadly, Burton himself died in June 1940, but not before he had
made over Carter’s house in Thebes to the Metropolitan Museum; its
contents were moved into the Metropolitan House for the duration of
the war. The house is now used as an Inspector’s house by the Antiqui-
ties Service.

Phyllis Walker, on advice, wrote to Monsieur Etienne Drioton, who
was then the Director-General of the Antiquities Service, on 22 March
1940, making the formal offer of the objects, about which he had already
been advised by Harry Burton. Realising the sensitive nature of the
matter, he wrote a graceful reply on 30 April. 4 He praised Miss Walker’s
generosity, and expressed his understanding that the gift should not be
held against the memory of her uncle, and assured her that there would
be no adverse press campaign. He had consulted His Majesty King
Farouk who had spontaneously offered to act as the intermediary in the
transfer to the Egyptian Museum. ‘Nobody will dare to make inappro-
priate insinuations in the case of a matter in which His Majesty is himself
interested.’ He finally suggested that the objects be handed over under
seal (a very Egyptian touch) to the Egyptian Consulate in London, who
would be instructed to pass them on to the King. The objects were then
sent to the Egyptian Consulate (or Embassy) in London, and there they
remained until the end of the Second World War. Finally, on 12 October
1946, Phyllis Walker could report to Newberry that the ‘objects’, as she
called them discreetly, had been returned at last by air to Egypt and the
King. 48 In due course they were passed to the Cairo Museum as a presen-
tation by the King. In concluding this ostensibly embarrassing episode,
attention may be drawn to a remark by Alan Gardiner to Newberry in a
postscript to a letter of 21 March 1945: 49

46 Letters on the negotiations are in the possession of Jonathan Carter.

47 A copy of Drioton’s letter is filed with one from Phyllis Walker to Newberry of 1 5 May
1940, G.I. Newberry Corr. 44/74.

48 G.I. Newberry Corr. 44/81.

49 G.I. Newberry Corr. 49/10.

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NON-FULFILMENT AND DECLINE

Oh yes, of course I knew everything about the handing over of the
objects from the tomb to the Egyptian Embassy. I had counselled this
all along to Carter himself.

The implication of this remark surely is that Carter, in letting Gardiner
see the objects, had expressed his own disquiet at having them in his
possession - possibly because they had come from Carnarvon’s collec-
tion. He might, perhaps, have done something about them if he could
have talked the matter over with Engelbach. He would have found that
difficult to do without bringing discredit on himself or on the person
who had taken them in the first place. Ultimately, it must be presumed,
to do anything with them became too difficult, and the problem was left
for his executors to deal with.

The bulk of Carter’s professional records, including those left by him
in Egypt, were eventually presented to die Griffith Institute in Oxford by
Phyllis Walker in 1945. There the Carter papers form an important
research archive, much consulted by scholars, and used as the basis for a
series of monographs on the material from Tutankhamun’s tomb. But
there is much more in the archives than Tutankhamun records. They
contain the remarkable Deir el-Bahri drawings, which established
Carter’s reputation as a draughtsman-artist, and the even finer drawings
of the Opet Festival scenes in the Luxor Temple, executed for Alan
Gardiner in the fallow years of the Great War; also most of the notes and
other documents which make up the archaeological record of Carter’s
work in Thebes and in the Delta, when he was Chief Inspector in the
early years of the century, and when he first worked for the Earl of
Carnarvon. These last show the beginnings of a career as an excavator in
which the going was somewhat hesitant, but was already informed with
excellent observation and an instinct for proper practice in the
conducting of field work. The overwhelming Tutankhamun documenta-
tion may greatly exceed the rest in bulk and quality, but it surely repre-
sents the final harvest of the ploughing and sowing that had filled the
first thirty years of Howard Carter’s career in Egypt. The whole formed
the path to Tutankhamun, and the success of a life devoted to Egypt and
archaeology; but it was in the end a life of sad success.

471

APPENDIX I

Letter of 9 January from Monsieur A. Jouveau to Monsieur Gaston
Maspero, concerning the fracas at Saqqara on 8 January 1905.

This text is taken from Howard Carter's own transcription now in the Griffith
Institute, Oxford, Carter Papers V 108.

J’ai l’honneur de porter a votre connaissance les faites suivants:

Hier nous arrivions aux Pyramides de Sakkareh, 14 personnes, dont
deux dames et deux enfants.

Nous nous faisions delivrer des tickets pour visiter le Serapeum, a
l’entree de ce monument nous constations que sans lumiere il etait
impossible d’y penetrer: les bedouins attaches au Service des Antiquites
nous declarant qu’ils n’avaient pas de bougies a nous fournir, nous
demandames le remboursement du prix de chaque ticket, Le surveillant
en Chef, un Effendi, nous dit qu’il devait en referer a son Chef Mr. Ward
Carter, Inspecteur en Chef, (Anglais) qui se trouvait non loin de la. Dans
l’attente la dispute s’aggrava et une vingtaine de bedouins se trouvaient
reunis dans la maison de Mariette. L’inspecteur Anglais arriva suivi d’une
quinzaine de bedouins munis de nabouts.

Nos revendications lui furent expliquees en Anglais; il nous repondit
par un refus categorique. Nous declarames alors que nous quitterions pas
la terrasse, sans avoir ete rembourses.

Cet inspecteur donna l’ordre immediatement a son subordonne, en
Anglais (de chasser ces sales Fran^ais et de nous frapper), les bedouins
ne saissant pas bien cet ordre il leur repeta en Arabe. De suite la melee
devint generale. Les dames et les enfants furent entraines par deux des
notres et nous demeurions sept a nous defendre, depourvus de tout
objet, tandis qu’une quarantaine d’individus nous tombaient dessus a
coup de nabout.

473

APPENDIX I

Un quartier de pierre me fendait la tete et je tombai baigne dans mon
sang.

Peu apres, Mr Georges Fabre, comptable a la Compagnie du Gaz,
tombait a son tour, le front ouvert d’un coup de nabout.

Mr Baudry, decorateur chez le Prince Halim Pacha Helmy, etait
renverse d’un coup de nabout sur le dos. Et les autres plus ou moins
contusionnes.

Mis hors de l’enceinte nous fumes poursuivis a coup de pierres, et ce
fut a grand peine que nous regagnames Bedrechein en pleine nuit.

Au carocol nous fumes dresser proces verbal, un agent nous accom-
pagna au Caire, ou proces verbal fut dresse au caracol de la gare. Nous
fumes conduits au Gouvernorat ou le medecin de service nous donna les
premiers soins.

A noter qu’aucun agent du police ne se trouvait dans les parages de
l’incident.

Je vous laisse le soin, Monsieur le Directeur General, de tirer la conclu-
sion d’un tel acte commande par un fonctionnaire Anglais.

Veuillez agreer, Monsieur le Directeur General l’assurance de ma
parfaite consideration.

A. Jouveau
Chef comptable
de la Compagnie du Gaz
Au Caire

474

APPENDIX II

The text of the Earl of Carnavon’s permit to excavate in the Valley of the
Kings.

It is taken from Howard Carter’s dossier of documents dealing with the troubles
between himself and the Egyptian Government during the winter of 1923—24,
referred to as the Statement in this volume. The copy used is in the Griffith Institute,
Oxford, Carter Papers IT 13.

Ministry of Public Works
Antiquities Service

AUTHORIZATION TO EXCAVATE

I, the undersigned, Director-General of the Antiquities Service, acting
in virtue of the powers delegated to me, hereby authorize the Right
Honourable Earl of Carnarvon, residing at Highclere Castle, to carry out
scientific excavations in the Valley of the Kings, on lands belonging to
the State, free, unbuilt upon, uncultivated, not included within the Mili-
tary Zone, nor comprising any cemeteries, quarries, etc., and, in general,
not devoted to any public use, and this on the following conditions:-

1 . The work of excavation shall be carried out at the expense, risk and
peril of the Earl of Carnarvon by Mr. Howard Carter; the latter should
be constantly present during excavation.

2. Work shall be executed under-the control of the Antiquities Service,
who shall have the right not only to supervise the work, but also to alter
the manner of tire execution if they so deem proper for the success of
the undertaking.

3. If a tomb, or any other monument, happens to be discovered, the
Permittee or his representative is bound to give notice at once to the
Chief Inspector of Upper Egypt, at Luxor.

475

APPENDIX II

4. To the Permittee himself shall be reserved the privilege of opening
the tomb or monument discovered, and of being the first to enter
therein.

5. At the moment of the opening the Chief Inspector of the Antiqui-
ties Service shall, if he considers necessary, place on the spot the number
of guardians he shall deem to be required.

6. The Permittee, or his representative, after examining the said tomb
or monument, and having taken such notes as he may judge necessary,
shall, if so desired, hand it over to the Inspector of Antiquities Service or
to any other agent to be appointed by the said Service.

7. The Permittee, or his representative, is bound to draw up forthwith
a ‘Proces-verbal’ showing the particularities observed at the moment of
the opening and the place occupied by each object, subjoining thereto as
many photographs and drawings as possible.

8. Mummies of the Kings, of Princes, and of High Priests, together
with their coffins and sarcophagi, shall remain the property of the Antiq-
uities Service.

9. Tombs which are discovered intact, together with all objects they may
contain, shall be handed over to the Museum whole and without division.

10. In the case of tombs which have already been searched, the Antiq-
uities Service shall, over and above the mummies and sarcophagi
intended in Article 8, reserve for themselves all objects of capital impor-
tance from the point of view of history and archaeology, and shall share
the remainder with the Permittee.

As it is probable that the majority of such tombs as may be discovered
will fall within the category of the present article, it is agreed that the
Permittee’s share will sufficiently recompense him for the pains and
labour of the undertaking.

11. Once the excavations are completed, the Permittee is bound to
leave the site of his operations in a satisfactory condition of levelling.

12. The Permittee further engages:-

A. Not to take squeezes of coloured monuments by means of
wet paper.

B. To deposit at the Museum and, if possible, at the Sultanian
Library copies of such books, memoirs, pamphlets, or collections
of engravings as may be published by him on the objects discov-
ered in the course of his excavations.

C. To deliver to the Antiquities Service, within two years from
the day on which the works have been completed: (1) a sketch or,

476

APPENDIX II

if necessary in the opinion of the Service, a plan of the field of
excavations, ready for publication in the Annals of the Museum;
(2) a summary list referring to the plan and showing the position
of the objects forming a whole, such as sarcophagi, boats, funerary
statues, glassware, or amulets, etc., belonging to the same sarcoph-
agus.

1 3. Any infraction, on the part of the Permittee or his agents, of the
conditions above stated shall entail the cancellation of the present
authorization, without any notice being given or any formality being
taken.

In such case the Antiquities Service, acting departmentally, shall at
once stop all work and shall take such steps as it may deem necessary in
its own interests and for the safe-guarding of the monuments or objects
already discovered at the moment of the stoppage of the excavations,
and this without the Permittee, or any agent of his, having any right to
claim any indemnity or compensation whatsoever or for any reason.

The present authorization holds good for one year, to run from April
18th, 1915, subject to renewal at the discretion of the Service.

Done, in duplicate, at Cairo,

April 18 th, 1915.

Acting Director-General Antiquities Service,

Signed: Daressy.

Seen and accepted the present
authorization for die Earl of
Carnarvon.

Signed: Howard Carter.

477

APPENDIX III

The Earl of Carnvarvon’s account of the opening of Tutankhamun’s
tomb.

This fragment, unsigned and undated, is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Department of Egyptian Art, Carter files.

At last this passage was cleared. We again reached a sealed door or wall
bearing the same seals as in the case of the former one. We wondered if
we should End another staircase, probably blocked behind this wall, or
whether we should get into a chamber. I asked Mr. Carter to take out a
few stones and have a look in. After a few minutes this was done. He
pushed his head partly into the aperture. With the help of a candle, he
could dimly discern what was inside. A long silence followed, until I said,
I fear in somewhat trembling tones, ‘Well, what is it!’ ‘There are some
marvellous objects here’, was the welcome reply.

Having given up my place to my daughter, I myself went to the hole,
and I could with difficulty restrain my excitement. At the first sight, with
the inadequate light, all that one could see was what appeared to be gold
bars. On getting a little more accustomed to the light, it became apparent
that there were colossal gilt couches with extraordinary heads, boxes here
and boxes there. We enlarged the hole and Mr. Carter managed to
scramble in - the chamber is sunk two feet below the bottom passage -
and then, as he moved around with a candle, we knew we had found
something absolutely unique and unprecedented.

Even with the poor light of the candle one could see a marvellous
collection of furniture and other objects in the chamber. There were two
life-sized statues of the king, beds, chariots, boxes of all sizes and shapes
— some with every sort of inlay whilst others were painted — walking
sticks, marvellous alabaster vases, and so on. After slightly enlarging the

478

APPENDIX III

hole we went in, and this time we realized in a fuller degree the extent of
the discovery, for we had managed to tap the electric light from the tomb
above, which gave us far better illumination for our examination.

The King’s Throne

One of the finest objects is the chair or throne of the King. It is in wood.
The back panel is of surpassing beauty, and portrays the King and his
Queen protected by Aton rays. All the figures, &c., in this scene are built
up by means of semi-precious carved stones, inlaid into wood. The deli-
cacy and grace of this work of art are indescribable, and it is, indeed,
fortunate that we have struck a period when Egyptian art reached one of
its culminating points. I kept on wondering why we had found no
coffins; nothing of the shape of one was visible. A few minutes later,
beneath one of the beds of state, we came on a small opening, giving into
another chamber. There the confusion was beyond conception. It was
impossible to enter, as the room was packed with chairs, beds, boxes,
statuettes, alabasters, and every other conceivable object to the height of
five feet. As far as could be seen, however, no coffin had been placed
there.

But on examining the first chamber again we discovered, between the
two life-sized statues of the King, a walled-up portion of the northern
end of the first chamber. This was also covered with seals, but on the
level of the floor, in the centre of this wall, there were traces of a very
small break having been made, large enough to admit a small man. This
had been subsequently resealed, probably by Rameside inspectors.

Lastly, the absence of mummies was explained. There is little doubt
that behind this wall there exists a chamber or chambers, and in one of
these probably reposes, in his coffins and sarcophagus, the body of King
Tutankhamen.

479

APPENDIX IV

THE TIMES AGREEMENT

MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT made the ninth day of January
One thousand nine hundred and twenty-three BETWEEN THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE EDWARD STANHOPE
MOLYNEUX HERBERT EARL OF CARNARVON (hereafter
referred to as ‘tire Earl’) of the one part and THE TIMES
PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED (hereinafter referred to as ‘the
Times’) of the other part WHEREAS the Earl is now conducting explo-
ration work in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings Luxor Egypt and
has made interesting investigations which may lead to the discovery of
the tomb of Tutankhamen AND WHEREAS the Earl has agreed to
appoint the Times sole agents for the sale throughout the World to
newspapers magazines and other publications of news articles interviews
and the photographs (other than cinematograph and coloured photo-
graphs) relating thereto on the terms and conditions hereinafter
contained NOW THESE PRESENTS WITNESS AND IT IS
HEREBY AGREED by and between the parties hereto as follows:—

1. The Earl hereby appoints the Times as sole agents for the sale
throughout the world to newspapers magazines and other publications
of all news articles interviews and photographs (other than cinemato-
graph and coloured photographs both of which are excluded from this
Agreement) relating to the present and future exploration work
conducted by the Earl and his agents in the Valley of the Tombs of the
Kings Luxor Egypt so far as they relate to the excavation of the several
chambers already opened and yet to be opened of the tomb of
Tutankhamen and the Earl hereby agrees that neither he nor his staff nor
any persons authorised by him or them will knowingly communicate or
permit to be communicated any such news articles interviews or photo-
graphs relating to any such exploration work as aforesaid to any person

480

APPENDIX IV

or persons company or companies other than the Times and the special
representative of the Times to be attached to the staff of the Earl except
as hereinafter provided and further that neither the Earl nor his agents
will authorise or permit any personal friends acquaintances or other
persons whatsoever to be present at any such exploration work or to
inspect any of the results thereof unless such persons shall (where it is
possible to obtain a pledge) first pledge themselves to grant no inter-
views to and to make no communication and give no information what-
soever as to what such persons shall have seen or heard whether to
representatives of the Press in any part of the world or to any other
persons whatsoever and the Earl and his agents shall take all such steps
such as shall be reasonably possible to prevent any leakage of news or
photographs articles or interviews and to give to the Times the full
benefit of this Agreement.

2. The Times shall place at the disposal of the Earl the services of one
or more members of the staff of the Times as the Times shall think fit
(to be previously approved by the Earl) but such member or members of
the Times staff’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Times representative’)
shall be attached to the Earl’s party and be subject to his directions and
control and if arrangements can be made shall accompany the Earl’s
party from England to Egypt and shall be deemed to be a permanent
member of the Earl’s staff but unless otherwise requested by the Earl he
shall confine himself entirely to the newspaper publicity and the Times
shall pay the salary of the Times representative and all expenses
connected with his journey and his work it being the intention that no
expense incurred by or through the Times representative shall fall upon
the Earl. The whole of the photographs other than cinematograph or
coloured photographs which may be taken by or on behalf of the Earl
Mr Howard Carter his agent Dr Allen Gardner or by any other member
of the staff of the Earl or anyone duly authorised by him or them shall be
supplied to die Times representative and the Times representative shall
be supplied by Mr Howard Carter or any other person authorised by him
or by the Earl in Egypt as soon as possible after any exploration or
discoveries with all material which the Times representative may think
desirable or necessary for publication and which the Earl can reasonably
give including all news of discoveries special articles interviews in addi-
tion to photographs for the purpose of the same being forthwith trans-
mitted by the Times representative to the Times in London either by
telegraph or by mail at the sole discretion of the Times representative

481

APPENDIX IV

and while the material of any such news interviews and special articles
shall be approved by Mr Howard Carter as agent for the Earl or by any
other person authorised by him the Times representative shall be solely
responsible for the language or actual wording of the message or
messages by which that material shall be conveyed to the Times. The
Times undertakes to place all such news articles interviews and photo-
graphs that it may receive from the Times representative as aforesaid at
the disposal of the Press of the world that is to say:-

(a) All other London newspapers (except that in the case of evening
newspapers only after publication in the morning newspapers)

(b) The British Provincial newspapers (including Scotland Ireland The
Channel Isles and die Isle of Man) through the Press Association or
otherwise

(d) Newspapers of the British Dominions

(e) Newspapers of Continental Europe and

(f) Newspapers of Egypt

(g) And Newspapers published in all other parts of the world,

on terms and conditions hereinafter specified and so as to insure simul-
taneous publication so far as possible (except in the case of photographs)
and that the Times shall obtain no preference over any other newspapers
taking the service in time for publication or otherwise except as herein-
after mentioned.

3. The Times shall fix the price which shall be charged to any such
newspapers magazines and other publications for the sale to them of all
such news articles interviews and photographs as aforesaid and the
Times shall have the entire conduct of all the negotiations with regard to
such sale and the Times shall be at liberty to make such sale on the best
possible terms and to impose any reasonable conditions on any such
newspapers magazines and other publications who shall take any such
news articles interviews and photographs as the Times may think proper
and necessary but so that no preference shall be given to any particular
newspapers magazines or other publications over any other such news-
papers magazines and other publications but so far as possible the same
terms and conditions shall apply to all as hereinafter mentioned All
newspapers magazines and other publications throughout the world who
are prepared to take the news articles interviews and photographs upon

482

APPENDIX IV

the terms and conditions imposed by the Times shall have placed at their
disposal all the available news articles interviews and photographs which
shall be received by the Times save and except newspapers and maga-
zines and other publications which shall be published in Great Britain
and Ireland the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. But as regards all
such newspapers magazines and other publications published in Great
Britain Ireland the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man in consideration
of the heavy expenses and liabilities which the Times is undertaking
under these presents the Times shall not be bound to offer more than
half of any such news messages special articles or interviews nor more
than 50% of all photographs provided nevertheless and the Times
hereby agrees that so far as it is reasonably possible the portion of all
such news messages special articles or interviews which the Times shall
supply to newspapers magazines and other publications in Great Britain
Ireland the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man shall contain all essential
information but as to what is the essential information in any such news
messages special articles or interviews the Times shall be the sole judge
the Earl being satisfied that the Times will act with the utmost fairness
towards the whole of the press of the country and as regards the Egyp-
tian native newspapers the Times shall supply all available material news
articles interviews and photographs to such Egyptian native newspapers
who may desire to take and publish the same free of all charge including
Egyptian telegraph fees where necessary.

4. All news matter and photographs which shall be published by the
Times or any other newspaper magazines or other publications shall be
published together with the following Acknowledgment ‘The Times
World Copyright by arrangement with the Earl of Carnarvon.’

5. The copyright in all such news interviews and special articles and
photographs which shall be supplied to the Times or the Times repre-
sentative under the terms of this Agreement shall belong to the Times
and the Earl will at the expense of the Times do or procure to be done all
such other acts matters and things as may be necessary for effectually
vesting in the Times all such copyright save and except that the Earl
reserves all film rights coloured photography rights books rights or
lecture rights but the Earl and his agents and persons authorised by him
shall not release for any purpose any film which may be taken and shall
not publish or permit any of his agents to publish a book and shall not
himself lecture or authorise any of his agents or other persons to engage
in any lecture relating to any matters the subject of this agreement before

483

APPENDIX IV

certain specified dates but in no event later than two months after
supplying the subject matter thereof to the Times and all films when
taken shall be forthwith deposited in some bank or other safe institution
to be mutually agreed upon by the parties hereto and shall remain there
pending the decision by agreement between the parties hereto as to the
date for the release of such film whether for private or public exhibition
but in no event later than two months unless by consent, of the Earl.

6. In consideration of the appointment of the Times by the Earl as his
sole agents for the sale throughout the world to newspapers magazines
and other publications of all such news special articles interviews and
photographs as aforesaid the Times shall pay to the Earl the sum of Five
thousand pounds on the signing of this agreement and shall further pay
to the Earl Seventy-five per cent of the net profits over and above the
said sum of Five thousand pounds which the Times may receive from
the sale of the said news interviews special articles and photographs for
publication in all other newspapers magazines and other publications
throughout the world but in arriving at such net profits no charge shall
be debited to the Times for the publication in the Times newspaper the
weekly edition of the Times or any other newspaper or publication
belonging to the Times of any such news special articles interviews or
photographs and the Times shall be entitled to charge all expenses of
every kind which shall be incurred by the Times in connection with the
obtaining by the Times of the said material and the transmission and sale
thereof to other newspapers magazines and publications including the
remuneration paid to and the expenses of the Times representative and
all cable and other fees and expenses properly incurred in carrying this
agreement into effect and the net sum only which shall remain after
deducting all such expenses and after deducting the said sum of Five
thousand pounds hereinbefore agreed to be paid by the Times to the
Earl on the signing of these presents shall be paid to the Earl as soon as
may be after such net profits (if any) shall be ascertained and if there
shall be any dispute between the parties hereto as to the amount of such
net profits (if any) the certificate of the auditor or auditors for the time
being of the Times shall be conclusive as to the amount of such net
profits. In the event of the net profits which shall be received by the
Times from the sale to such other newspapers magazines or publications
as aforesaid not amounting to the said sum of Five thousand pounds
paid by the Times to the Earl on the signing of this Agreement then the
Times shall be entided to keep all such profits as it shall have received

484

APPENDIX IV

but shall not in any event be entitled to claim any refund from the Earl of
any part of the said sum of Five thousand pounds paid to the Earl on the
signing of these presents.

7. Notwithstanding anything herein contained the Earl shall have the
right at all future times to make use of any of the Times articles
published on the subject matter of this Agreement or of any of the
photographs supplied to them for the purpose of any lecture film
caption or any book or books which he may hereafter deliver write
publish produce or cause or authorise to be delivered written published
or produced.

8. The Times shall have no authority or control relating to the present
and future excavation work hereinbefore referred to which shall be
carried out solely under the direction of and at the time when the Earl
and his representative or representatives shall decide.

9. While the Earl has confidence in the result of his discoveries and
believes them to have an important bearing on the history of Egypt it is
understood and agreed by the Times that he is not to be held responsible
for any failure or disappointment in the result of his investigation and
that he makes no warranty or guarantee that his anticipations will be
fulfilled and that in no circumstances is the Earl liable or to be liable to
refund the money paid or payable hereunder.

10. If any dispute shall arise between the parties hereto concerning any
matter arising under or in respect of this Agreement or the construction
thereof the same shall be referred to arbitration pursuant to the provi-
sions of the Arbitration Act 1889.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the Earl of Carnarvon and William Lints
Smith Manager of the Times Publishing Company Limited have here-
unto set their hands the day and year first above written.

485

ADDENDA

P. 162 The start of Carter’s association with Lord Carnarvon is
clinched by a letter from him to Mrs Kingsmill Marrs of
Boston, dated from Medinet Habu on 16 January 1909. In it he
says: ‘I have just been offered an enormous fee by Lord
Carnarvon to undertake a months excavation (February) at
Drah abou’l Neggeh — a site no doubt you will remember
between Deir El Bahari & the mouth of the valley of the Tombs
of the Kings - to try & find the tombs of Amenhotep I &
Aahmes Nefertari (the founders of the 18th Dynasty) which the
Abbot papyrus mentions to be in the neighbourhood - the
circumstances being so good & such an interesting rest for a
short time from ones work I have accepted & shall try to do my
best.’ For these letters in the Massachusetts Historical Society,
and for Carter’s water-colours painted for the Marrs family and
now in the Worcester Art Museum, see T.G.H. James, ‘Howard
Carter and Mrs Kingsmill Marrs’, in Studies in Honor of William
Kelly Simpson , vol. I (Boston, 1997), pp. 414^-28.

P. 183 Extensive investigations in the neighbourhood of Bretby Hall
by Angela Gillespie in 1994 failed to establish with certainty
which brickworks was responsible for the manufacture of the
Bretby bricks. Local memories made claims both for the
Stanton Lane Brick and Pipe Works of Lake and Son, and for
the Bretby Brick and Stoneware Co. of the Barnes family. The
two sites were adjacent and used clay from the same deposit.
There is an example of the Carter brick in the Parcel Terrace
Brick Library maintained by Lakes in Derby. It would appear
that neither of the suggested brickworks was owned by the

486

ADDENDA

Carnarvon family. The Stanton Lane site was purchased from
the 5th Earl of Carnarvon.

P. 212 The Luxor reliefs have now been splendidly published in
Oriental Institute, Chicago, The Epigraphic Survey, The Festival
Procession of Opet in the Colonnade Hall (Chicago, 1994). In the
preparation of the volume, the Carter drawings were consulted.

P. 317 The Statement with documents has been twice reprinted in recent
years, once in facsimile with an introduction by John Larson,
and once in smaller format with an introduction by Nicholas
Reeves. For details, see Bibliography under Carter, Howard, at
end.

P. 453 Carter’s friendship with Anton Badrutt, and association thereby
with the Winter Palace Hotel is made clear by entries in the
hotel guest-book; see Andre B. Wiese, ‘Aus dem Gastebuch des
Winter Palace in Luxor (1920-1935)’, in Ein dgyptisches Glasper-
lenspiel (Berlin, 1998), pp. 243-264, especially 249-252.

P. 466 Much belated recognition of Howard Carter came in 1999 with
the erection by English Heritage of a blue commemorative
plaque on 1 9 Collingham Gardens, where Carter had a summer
pied-a-terre during the 1920s. Only one other Egyptologist has
such a memorial in London — Carter’s first instructor in excava-
tion, Sir Flinders Petrie.

487

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

A.J.S.L.L.

A. S.A.E.

B. M.MA.
E.E.F.
E.E.S.
E.E.F.
Arch. Rep.
G.I.

JA.R.C.E.

J.E.A.

J. S.S.E.A.

K. M.T.
M.M.A.

O. I.

P. S.BA
Rev. d’Eg.

1 ABBREVIATIONS

American journal of Semitic Languages and Literature (Chicago)
Annales du Service des Antiquites de I’Egypte (Cairo)

Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)

Egypt Exploration Fund
Egypt Exploration Society

Egypt Exploration Fund. Archaeological Reports (London)

Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
journal of the American Research Center in Egypt (New York)
journal of Egyptian Archaeology (London)

journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities (Toronto)

K.M.T. A modern journal of Ancient Egypt (San Francisco)

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Oriental Institute, the LIniversity of Chicago

Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology (London)

Revue d’Egyptologie (Paris)

2 MANUSCRIPT SOURCES

The principal collection of original sources used in this volume is housed in the
Griffith Institute in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, comprising the bulk of
surviving Carter papers dealing with his excavations, including Tutankhamun
(with a set of the Harry Burton photographs), and much documentary material
associated with his early career: cited as G. I. Carter Papers. The Newberry
Papers contain the large collection of letters to Newberry which cover the whole
of Carter’s working life (G. I. Newberry Corr.). Important material is also to be
found in the Gardiner Papers (G. I. Gardiner Corr.), and in the archive of F. LI.
Griffith. The original drawings of the Deir el-Bahri temple of Hatshepsut are in
the Carter Papers, and his Luxor Temple drawings are in the Gardiner Papers.

Substantial documentary material mosdy from the Tutankhamun years, and
much representing the residue of papers from Carter’s Theban house, is in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; referred to as M. M. A. Department of

488

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Egyptian Art, Carter files. The Department of Egyptian Art also contains a tran-
script of the Emma Andrews diary, covering the annual visits she made to Egypt
with Theodore Davis on his dahabiya Bedcnvin from 1889 to 1912.

The letters and documents surviving from Carter’s London flat are in the
possession of Jonathan Carter, a great-grandson of Howard Carter’s brother
Edgar. This collection contains interesting early letters, a set of the late sketches,
and most of the surviving personal documentation for Carter’s last years.

For Carter’s earliest years of work in Egypt, there is a useful body of material
in the archives of the Egypt Exploration Society. Letters from this time of
working with Naville are preserved in the Bibliotheque publique et universitaire
of the city of Geneva.

A group of letters from and to members of the Amherst family, dealing mostly
with Carter’s years as Chief Inspector, formerly in the possession of Terry J. Eva
are now in the collection of Dr Bob Brier in Long Island, New York. Some of
Lady r Amherst’s (earlier Lady r William Cecil) journals, including those covering her
archaeological work at Aswan, are in the archive of the Biltmore Estate, at Biltmore
House, Ashville, North Carolina. Two volumes of Alicia Amherst’s journal of the
Amherst family Nile tour of 1 894—5 are in the possession of Mrs Stanley Chattey.

Parts of the journal of Mervyn Herbert, half-brother of the 5th Earl of
Carnarvon, are kept in the library of the Middle East Centre in St Antony’s
College, Oxford. Minnie Burton’s diary covering the years of the excavation of
the tomb of Tutankhamun, up to 1926, is in the possession of Mrs Rosalind
Berwald. The diaries of Lindsley Hall are in the archives of the Oregon Histor-
ical Society, Portland, Oregon.

The family letters and other papers of Arthur Cruttenden Mace, especially
important for the first two years of the Tutankhamun excavation, were in the
possession of Mrs Margaret Orr, Mace’s daughter. His professional papers are in
the Department of Egyptian Art, the Metropolitan Museum; some papers are in
the Carter archive in the Griffith Institute.

Very considerable papers covering the relations between Carter and James
Henry Breasted are housed in the archives of the Oriental Institute of the Univer-
sity of Chicago and are quoted Courtesy of the Oriental Institute. Correspond-
ence on Carter’s agency dealings with the Cleveland Museum of Art and the
Detroit Institute of Arts are to be found in the archives of these two institutions.

Letters from a variety of correspondents on Carter matters are in the Central
Archive of the British Museum, and in the Departments of Egyptian Antiquities,
and Western Asiatic Antiquities (formerly together forming the Department of
Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities). Private letters from Sir Alan Gardiner to his
wife and daughter are in the possession of Margaret Gardiner.

At Swaffham, Norfolk, there is some photographic and other material in the
Swaffham Museum, and also with Mr Benjamin Ripper, a grandson of Robert
Carter, a brother of Howard Carter’s father, Samuel John Carter.

3 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Note. Comprehensive bibliographies on the Valley of the Kings and on the excava-
tion, contents and subsequent studies of the tomb of Tutankhamun can be found

489

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

in C. N. Reeves, The T 'ally of the Tangs, (as N. Reeves) The Complete Tutankhamun, and

N. Reeves and R.H. Wilkinson, The complete l alley of the Kings, all listed below.

Aldred, Cyril, Jewels of the Pharaohs (London, 1971).

Aldred, Cyril, Akhenaten andNefertiti (London, 1973).

Aldred, Cyril, Akhenaten, King of Egypt (London, 1988).

Amherst, Margaret, Lady, of Hackney, A Sketch of Egyptian History, from the earliest
times to the present day (London 1 904).

Anson, Lady Clodagh, Victorian Days (2nd ed., London, 1957).

Baines, John and Jaromir Malek, Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 1 984).

Bateman, Donald, Berkeley Moynihan, Surgeon (London, 1940).

Bell, Martha, An armchair excavation of KV 55’, in J.A.R.C.E. 27 (New York,
1990), pp. 97-137.

Belzoni, Giovanni-Battista, Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the
Pyramids, Temples, Tombs and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia; and of a journey to the
Coast of the Red Sea, in search of the ancient Berenice; and another to the Oasis of Jupiter
Ammon , 2 vols (London, 1820).

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494

INDEX

Note. The definite and indefinite articles, including the Arabic El,
are ignored in the ordering of entries.

Abbott Papyrus 193, 196f, 486
Abd el-Aal Ahmed Saide 192, 469
Abd el-Hamid Bedawy Pasha 381,
384

Abd el-Hamid Pasha Suleiman 320

Abd er-Rasul family 86, 151, 176

Abemayor 251

Abu Simbel 92, 436

Abusir 116, 185

Abydos 79, 238

Abyssinia 357

The Academy 30

Acworth, J.J. 244

Aegean pottery 41

Afghanistan, King of 472

Ahhotpe, Queen 196

Ahmed Gerigar 255, 346

Ahmes-Nefertari, Queen 106f,

193ff, 486

Ahmose (Aahmes), Queen 73, 157
Akhenaten 2, 41 , 43, 48, 401 , 403; tomb
of 28 ff, 38f, 45; plaster face of 41
Akhetaten, see El-Amarna
Akhmim 223
Akhtoy 208

alabaster quarries 29ff; see also
Hatnub

Alba, Duke of 377f, 462, 465
Albert, King of the Belgians 465
Albert Court 457, 468
Aldred, Cyril xii, 202, 277, 440f, 447,
456f, 462f

Alexander the Great 439ff
Alexandria 9, 23, 129, 137, 226, 316,
320, 338, 396, 440
Alfonso XIII 378
Allen, Antony xiv, 10
Allen, Francis xiv, 9f
Allen, Nigel xiv, 9f, 12, 309
Allen, N.G Stafford xiv, 8
Allen, Thomas G. 387
Allenby, Lady 288, 365
Allenby, Lord 277f, 318, 322, 352,
378,380,391,417,462
El-Amarna 2, 9, 23, 28f, 33ff, 46ff,
59, 73, 169, 203, 222ff, 241, 245,
247, 249, 267, 342, 364
Amarna Period 442f
Amenemhab 175
Amenhotep (Amenhetep), see
Amenophis
Amenmesse, King 450
Amenophis I 194; tomb of 107f,
193ff, 207f, 486

495

INDEX

Amenophis II 87; tomb of 81, 83ff,
101, 113, 151, 446; mummy of
81ff

Amenophis III 155, 178, 191, 201,
210, 419, 429, 461; palace of 102;
tomb of 179, 200f, 252; faience
sphinx of 429, 447; plaques of
178f, 200, 203,207
Amenothes, see Amenophis II
Amherst of Hackney, Baron Ilf,
34ff, 40, 94, 96,107,113,131,
148, 158f, 193f

Amherst, Alicia xiii, xv, 12, 73, 158
Amherst, Baroness, see Cecil, Lady
William

Amherst, Margaret, Lady Ilf, 1 6ff,
73, 87, 95, 98, 106f, 133f, 158,
193

Amherst, Mary, see Cecil, Lady
William

Amherst Collection Ilf, 18f, 22, 35f,
41 ff, 87, 158, 217, 218, 240f
Amherst Papers xi, xiii
Amhersts of Didlington Ilf, 15, 17,
22, 73, 133, 158, 240, 309
Ammenemes III 198
Ammenemes IV 174
Amon-Re 58, 63, 388
Amosis, King 196
Amun 101, 210
Andraos, Boutros 93
Andrews, Emma 73f, 82, 84f, 88,
100, 102f, 106, 108, 111, 138,
148, 152, 157, 162, 184
Ankhesenamun, Queen 419
Annates du Service des Antiquites de
I’Egypte 86, 95, 262
Antinoupolis, see Sheikh Ibada
antiquities dealers 85, 176f, 180, 213,
227ff, 251, 429

Antiquities laws 148, 185, 246f, 313
Antiquities Service 26, 35, 38, 44, 45,
47f, 52, 59, 64, 75ff, 89, 91, 93,

lOOff, 107, 112f, 131, 133, 136,
139, 143ff, 147, 152f, 157, 162,
166f, 168, 177, 185ff, 196, 212,

21 5f, 221, 224f, 231, 247, 261f,
265f, 273, 280f, 315, 31 9f, 324,
328, 331, 333, 337, 341f, 366,

386, 400, 412, 418, 431, 452, 470;
see also Egyptian Antiquities
Organization
Anubis 63,255,400, 41 4f
Aramaic papyri 95ff, 136
Archaeological Reports of the E.E.F. 67,
164, 170

Archaeological Survey of Egypt 14ff,
25ff, 3 Iff, 44 f, 54ff, 168, 226, 342
Armant 235, 252, 256, 345, 383
Arnold, Dorothea xiii, 63
Artaxerxes I 95
Art Institute, Chicago 230
The Art of Egypt through the Ages 442
Asasif 167, 184, 190, 192, 256
Ashmolean Museum 307
El-Ashmunein 225
Astor,J.J. 234

Aswan 12, 48, 73, 86, 94ff, 102, 136,
161, 165, 272, 285, 290ff, 295,
405, 422, 456
Aswan Dam 92, 292
Asyut 226
Aten 153

Aumonier, William, and Son 354f
Ausonia 435
Ay (Eye), King 335
Ayrton, Edward 104, 154, 160, 244

El-Bab el-Hosan, see Horse, Tomb of
Badrashein 117, 119, 474
Badrutt, Anton 453, 456, 465, 487
Bahr Yusuf 198
Balamun, see Tell el-B.

Balansura 225
Balfour, Arthur 231
Balliana 92, 131

496

INDEX

Baltimore 359
Banebded 49

Bank of England 308, 376, 409, 411,
442

Baraize, Emile 68, 168, 346, 384
Baring, Sir Evelyn, see Cromer
Barnes family 486
Barrett, Fletcher 297
Barsanti, Alexandre 38
Battenberg, Princess Henry of 111,
309

Baudry, M. 117,474
Beacon Hill 301, 303
Beatrice, Princess, see Battenberg
Beauchamp, (Sir) Bograve 314
Beauchamp, Sir Edward 314
Beauchamp, Lady Evelyn, see
Herbert, Evelyn
Beirut 389
Bellad Amun 189
Belzoni, G.-B. 153
Benedite, Georges 392
Beni Hasan 15ff, 20, 23ff, 32f, 46, 48,
56, 60, 64, 68, 80, 225, 236
Beni Hasan I-IV 32, 56ff
Beni Suef 129
Berchem, Denis van xiv
Berengaria 356
Berlin Museum 95, 178
El-Bersha 20, 23, 26f, 30ff, 35, 37,
46, 54, 56, 60, 68, 225, 455
El-Bersheh I, II 32, 56f
Berwald, Rosalind xiii, 140
Bethell, Richard 241 f, 296, 309, 322,
337

Biltmore House xiii, 95
Birabi 172f, 178, 184, 208
Birch, Samuel 1 9f
Bissing, Friedrich Freiherr von 97,
138,196

Blackden, Marcus, W 16f, 24, 25f,
30ff, 39, 45, 57

Blackman, Aylward xv, 226, 234ff

Bledsloe, Julie xiii, 95
Blue commemorative plaque 487
Bodleian Library 97
Boodle, L.A. 442
Borchardt, Lugwig 203, 223
Boston 359, 363
Bosworth, Welles 392, 450, 463
Bothmer, Bernard V, 343
Bouliniere, M. de la 120, 123, 125,
129

Boulos, Tewfik 279, 399f, 407
boundary inscriptions 29, 40
Bradstreet, A.H. 281, 321, 323, 328f,
365

Breasted, Charles 151, 250, 292f,
328ff, 347, 405, 453
Breasted, Frances 387, 394, 398
Breasted, James 90, 151, 230f, 243f,
272, 279, 288, 292f, 304ff, 320,
328, 331, 334ff, 357ff, 372, 375,
386ff, 392ff, 398ff, 405, 418,
427ff, 442, 463; assists in tomb
272; disputes over sculpture 218,
229f, 272, 393; acts as negotiator
348ff, 365, 383
Bretby xi, xiv, 183, 486
Bretby Brick & Stoneware Co. 486
Bridgeman, Dr 43
Brier, Bob xi
Briggs, C.E. 356
British Academy 332, 378
British Association 306
British Empire Exhibition xv, 354ff,
375, 433

British-French relations 77, 114ff,
341, 392

British Institute in Cairo 231 f
British Museum 19f, 88ff, 178, 180,
193, 196, 203, 207,271f, 307,
322, 327, 332, 394, 403, 407ff,

41 Of, 418, 443, 450
British School of Archaeology in
Egypt 232

497

INDEX

Brompton 3
Brown, Percy 58, 68f
Brown, Sir Robert H. 30
Brugsch, Emile 53f, 77, 117, 121,
141, 142, 185
Brunton, Guy 8
Bruyere, Bernard 334
Bubastis 143

Buckingham Palace 309, 465
Buckman, Percy 47, 55, 57
Budge, Sir E.A. Wallis 20, 88ff, 177,
179, 185, 189, 190, 196, 203, 207,
313, 408
Buffalo 362, 370
Bulaq 23

Bull, Ludlow 288f, 358, 372
Burghclere, Lady 31 3f, 421 f, 447
Burlington Fine Arts Club 244, 457
Burton, Harry 140, 200, 256, 268f,
272f, 276f, 288, 300f, 302, 313,
322 f, 326, 353, 357, 385, 395,
397, 398f, 402f, 416, 418, 425,
427, 442, 452, 456, 460, 469f
Burton, Minnie xiii, 140, 256, 262,
268, 282, 284, 287f, 293, 301,
325f, 336, 347, 352f, 357, 394,
400 f, 425

Butters, David xiv, 8
Buttles, Jeanette (Janet) 133, 157
Byng, Viscount 371

cache, royal mummies 195, 401, 404
Cairo 23, 32, 44, 46f, 48, 51f, 53, 55,
77f, 83, 96, 102, 108, 112f, 123f,
129, 134, 137, 143, 149, 155, 157,
176f, 189, 196, 202ff, 215f, 222f,
226ff, 231, 243f, 256, 282, 296f,
299, 30 If, 315f, 32 If, 331, 344,
348, 352, 363f, 370, 377, 379,
401,407, 41 7f, 432, 466, 474
Cairo Museum 23, 47, 53, 76, 83,
87f, 96f, 142, 155, 177, 221, 224,
262f, 267, 296, 298, 300ff, 307,

315, 320, 324f, 328, 341,373,

382, 389, 391 f, 399f, 407, 413,
421, 444, 447, 454, 467, 470

Cairo Zoo 74, 138
Callender, Arthur, R. 235, 252, 255f,
258f, 263, 267, 269, 272, 286,

292, 300, 322, 324f, 344f, 352,
364, 383f, 385, 387, 390f, 392,
394, 402, 421
Cambridge Daily News 433
Caminos, Ricardo, A. 59
Canada 356, 360, 362, 371f
canary 251 f, 352f

Capart, Jean xv, 288, 289, 31 2f, 343f,
465

Carisbrooke 309

Carnarvon, 5th Earl of xiv, 102, 147,
154, 157f, 159ff, 169ff, 182ff,
185ff, 193, 195ff, 215ff, 219,
220ff, 22 7f, 231 ff, 239, 243ff,

248 ff, 253, 255ff, 286ff, 305, 311,
330, 333, 339, 343f, 352, 375,

377, 396, 41 Of, 417, 453, 458,

460 f, 465f, 471, 478f, 486f; rela-
tionship with Carter 176, 282f,
292ff, 299f; concession to dig in
Valley of the Kings 200f, 246,
302f, 31 4f, 346, 475ff; death of
297ff, 310, 412, 426; will of 307f,
376, 40 7f, 410, 434
Carnarvon, 6th Earl of (Porchester)
308, 463

Carnarvon, 7th Earl of xii
Carnarvon, Almina, Countess of
147, 159, 188,245, 265, 283,
298ff, 302f, 307f, 310, 314, 324,
338, 346, 349,375, 379, 381 f,

383, 391, 407ff, 417, 430f, 434,
465, 468

Carnarvon Collection 176ff, 198,
205f, 216, 239, 303, 307f, 376f,
407ff, 429, 447, 471
Carnarvon Tablet 160f, 163f, 172, 206

498

INDEX

Carnegie Hall 359

Carter, Amy (sis. of Howard) 8, 10,
68, 452, 458

Carter, Audrey (wife of Vernet C.)
459, 463

Carter, Catherine (Kate, aunt of
Howard) 7, 459

Carter, Edgar (bro. of Howard) 468

Carter, Fanny (aunt of Howard) 7,
459

Carter, Frances (grandmother of
Howard) 5

Carter, Henry Robert (Harry, cous.
of Howard) 4

Carter, Henry William (uncle of
Howard) 406

Carter, Howard passim, death and
burial of 1, 468f; birth of 2f;
health of 8, 42f, 67, 110, 124,
140f, 243, 284, 292, 294f, 337,
405ff, 422ff, 454ff; autobiograph-
ical sketches of 2, 8, 10, 32f, 61 f,
82, 109, 194, 202, 213, 445 f;
chronological imprecision of 2;
early training and education of
7ff, 91 f; love of natural history of
10, 18f,26, 36,109,189, 455f;
relations with Amhersts 11, 1 7f,
22, 1 58; first appointment as
‘tracer’ 17, 22; skills of, as
draughtsman and artist 17ff, 39f,
56ff, 65ff, 461; at Beni Hasan 23,
48; his attitude towards copying
24ff, 59; visits Hatnub 29; works
at El-Amarna 33ff; Petrie’s
opinion of 36, 39f, 263; his
opinion of Petrie 38, 42, 169;
death of father 3, 43; tempera-
ment of 43, 81, 123f, 130f, 147ff,
255, 295, 31 8f, 330, 369, 371, 402;
works at Mendes 49ff; knowledge
of Arabic of 50, 72, 78,143;
works at Deir el-Bahri 58ff;

Naville’s opinion of 65, 70, 72; his
opinion of Naville 58, 170; as
engineer 64, 71f, 78; social
manners of 72f, 158f; interest in
book production of 70f, 135, 156,
170, 211, 313; as photographer
64, 73, 97; pleasure and profit in
painting of 74, 149, 152, 155f,
216, 455f; becomes Chief
Inspector 75, 78ff; relationship
with Maspero 79, 82, 130f, 146f;
investigates robbery of tomb of
Amenophis II 86f; relations with
Egyptians 112f, 143, 161, 426;
association of, with dealers 85,
112f, 177; accused of poor
administration 88ff; letters of, to
mother 92, 109, 144f, 232f; helps
Lady Cecil at Aswan 12, 94ff;
deals with Aramaic papyri 95ff,
136; finds Tomb of the Horse
95ff; protects monuments 100;
works with T. Davis lOOff;
domestic arrangements of 108f;
interest in tomb of Amenophis I
107, 193ff, 486; literary skills of
109f, 313; inclination to high
society of llOf, 112, 137f, 300,
459ff; moves to Lower Egypt 91,
110, 112ff; trouble of, at Saqqara
114ff, 473f; moves toTanta 129ff;
visits Cyprus 144f; resigns from
Service 145ff, 162; life of, out of
office 148ff; activities of, as dealer
157, 178f, 216ff, 227ff, 291, 299,
424, 428f, 447ff, 456; early associ-
ation with Carnarvon 161 ff, 486;
relations of, with Weigall 164f,
279ff; first excavates with
Carnarvon 167ff; relations of,
with Gardiner 181f, 206ff, 385f,
444f; new house of 183f, see also
Castle Carter; works in Delta

499

INDEX

187f; clears tomb of Amenophis
III 200f; war-work of 202ff;
draws reliefs in Luxor Temple
21 Of; interest in tomb of royal
Asiatic wives 212f, 227 f; agree-
ment with Cleveland Museum
21 7f, 229f; works at Meir 234f;
helps Sothebys 240ff; gall bladder
operation of 243f; work resumes
in Valley 245ff; persuades
Carnarvon to continue work
250f; discovers tomb of
Tutankhamun 252; opens tomb
257f; manual skills of 264f, 402f;
enters Burial Chamber 102, 259f;
organizing ability of 263, 268,
295; relations with Mace 274f,
344, 407, 423f; irrascible nature of
276f, 288, 336f, 345, 370f, 394,
402, 457; friendship with Evelyn
Herbert 283, 293ff, 297f, 314,
464f; relations with Carnarvon
176, 282f, 292ff, 299f; attitude of,
to Press 262ff, 277, 279, 290, 330,
371, 439; relations with Breasted
304, 31 If, 393f; lecturing abilities
of 305, 310f, 360ff, 377, 467;
opens sarcophagus 332ff; closes
tomb 337; plagued by politics
318ff, 374ff; problems of, with
Callender 345f, 383, 390; legal
proceedings of, over tomb 347 ff;
dossier of, on tomb troubles 31 6f,
321ff, 373f, 487; American tour
of 310f, 329, 346, 353, 356ff, 451;
contents of store-cupboard of
353; reaction to Wembley replica
354f, 375, 433; annuity of 362,

37 5, 451 ; crisis over head on lotus
363f, 373f; proposes retirement
368f; receives honorary degree
37 1 f; takes to motoring 375f;
decorations of 378, 465f; renunci-

ation of claims on tomb by 348,
372, 381 f; return to tomb by 383;
social standing of, in Egypt 417;
organizes study of tomb 442f;
removal of tonsils of 424; view of,
on curse 427; agreement of, with
Detroit 428f; share of, in tomb
compensation 430, 433f; troubles
of, over keys to tomb 431 f, 436,
439; visits Sweden 435; proposes
search for tomb of Alexander
43 9 f; encourages Cyril Aldred
440f; plans to write final report
442ff; quarrel of, with Gardiner
444f; views on tomb excavation
446f; tax problems of 450; last
illness and decline 454ff, 468; lack
of recognition of 465f, 487; life
of, in London 457f; friends and
lack of romantic attachments
458ff; will of 469; Tutankhamun
objects in possession of, at time
of death 447 f, 469ff; papers of
xiv, 471; commemorative blue
plaque for 487. See also
Tutankhamun, tomb of
Carter, James (bro. of Howard) 406
Carter, John (cous. of Howard) xi,
xiii

Carter, Jonathan (son of John) xi, 8,
424

Carter, Kate, see C., Catherine
Carter, Margaret (sis.-in-law of
Howard) 406

Carter, Martha Joyce (m. of Howard)
4, 7f, 17, 91 f, 109, 144, 232f, 239
Carter, Mary (w. of Samuel) 376,
424f

Carter, Mary (w. of William) 376, 406
Carter, Robert (gr.-grandfather of
Howard) 5

Carter, Samuel (grandfather of
Howard) 5

500

INDEX

Carter, Samuel (bro. of Howard) 10,
239, 424f, 458

Carter, Samuel John (f. of Howard)
2ff, 43, 65, 460

Carter, Samuel John (neph. of
Howard) 1,467

Carter Susanna (gr.-grandmother of
Howard) 5

Carter Vernet (or Verney, bro. of
Howard) 10, 65ff, 459, 463
Carter, William (br. of Howard) xv,
1, 5, 8, 10, 68, 376, 406, 440, 451,
158, 468

Castle Carter (Elwat el- Diban) 183f,
244, 262, 274, 285, 287, 292f,
301, 313, 325, 345, 353, 414, 452,
470

Castle Carter (Medinet Habu) 92,
108f, 159, 165, 168, 181
Cataract Hotel 285
Caygill, Marjorie xiv, 271
Cecil, Lady William 12, 95ff, 103,
134,136, 240

Cecil, Lord William 12, 111
Cecil tombs 12, 94ff
Chaban, see Shabaan
Chamberlain, Joseph 111
Chapman, John 4

Chattey, Venetia (Mrs Stanley C.) xiii,
73

Chelsea 68, 458
Chelsea Arts Club 440
Chester, Revd Greville 23, 42
Chicago, University of 312, 359; see
also Oriental Institute
Chicago Daily News 328f, 347
Chicago House 151, 305, 387, 401,
453

Christian Science Monitor 329
Chuenaten, see Akhenaten
Cincinnati 360, 362
Clarke, Somers 69, 72, 79, 183, 203,
219,394

Cleveland 362

Cleveland Museum of Art xiii, 21 7f,
229f, 237, 240ff, 272, 362, 393,
428f

Cockley Cley Hall xiv, 9f, 12, 309
Collingham Gardens 239, 424, 457,
458, 487
Colmans 377
Columbus, Ohio 362, 370
Connaught Hotel 393
Constitutional Club 134f, 239
Contessa, see Sala, della
Continental Hotel 157, 205, 216,
267, 297f, 379, 396
Cook, Thomas 92, 302
Coolidge, Calvin 359, 375
Cotman, John 5
Cotman John Sell 5
Cotman, Miles E. 5
Cowley, A.H. 97
Cox, Harriet 102
Cranbrook Academy of Arts 430
Cromer, Lord 90, 99, 102, 118ff,
124, 127, 130f, 185
Crotch and Son 356
Crown Point Hall 377
Currelly, C.T. 362
Curtis, John xiv
Curzon, Robert 241
Cust, Sir Charles 292
Cyprus 144f, 435

Dahshur 185ff, 199, 223

Daily Express 355

Daily Graphic 39

Daily Mail 111, 241 f, 355

Daressy, Georges 201, 246, 261, 477

Darius II 95

Davies, Nina M. 60, 168, 274, 288,
400

Davies, Norman de G. 48, 168, 171,
274, 288, 400
Davies, W Vivian xiv

501

INDEX

Davis, Theodore 73f, 84f, 88, 97,
lOOff, 107, 123, 126ff, 133ff, 149,
1 52ff, 159, 168, 169f, 172, 177,
179, 184, 191f, 196, 198, 200f,
214, 222, 244, 248f, 257
Dawson of Penn, Lady 468
Dawson, Geoffrey 277, 309
Dawson, Warren R. 313
Deir el-Bahri 47, 52, 56, 58ff, 78, 83,
89, 97f, 105, 135, 150, 157, 168,
172, 192, 195, 203, 210, 302, 362,
394,408, 416, 471,486
Deir el-Medina 334
Delany, Gerald 339
DeLeskey, Sharon xi
Delta 13f, 49ff, 78, 93, 129, 139,
142ff, 152, 187f, 190, 236, 320
demotic 171, 178
Dendera 212, 222, 227, 238
Dennis, C.H. 328
Derry, Dr Douglas 271, 307, 395f,
399, 404f, 442
Detroit 362, 368, 429f
Detroit Institute of Arts xiii, 428,
449

Didlington Hall llff, 17, 19, 35, 37,
73,137,158,309
Diospolis Inferior 189
Diospolis Parva 189
division of antiquities, see partage
Djehutihotpe 27, 30
Djeser-djeseru 63
Dodgson, Aquila 42
Dorothy D. 465

Dra Abu el-Naga 160, 168, 172, 183,
192, 195f, 204, 486
Drioton, Etienne 470
Drower, Margaret S. xiv
dry squeezing 60f
Duemichen, Johannes 70
Dunham, Dows 343
Duveen, Sir Joseph 309, 410
Dyas, Eamon xiv

Earls Court 3

Eastern Daily Press 203, 356

Edfu 90ff

Edgerton, Jean D. 453
Edgar, C.C. 143f, 147, 320, 323, 339,
363, 396, 413
Edward, Inspector 436
Edward VII 111,378
Edwards, Amelia B. 13, 16, 18f, 26,
33f, 43, 45, 47
Edwards, I.E.S. xii
E’Egypte 119, 122

Egypt Exploration Fund 13ff, 19ff,
26, 28, 31 ff, 44ff, 57f, 61, 65f, 75,
77, 83, 89, 98f, 150, 157, 168,
206, 226

Egypt Exploration Society xiv, 57,
59, 234, 246, 271, 288, 296, 342
Egyptian Antiquities Organization
48, 271

Egyptian Gazette 89ff, 120, 147, 159,
342

Egyptian University 254, 395
Elephantine 95
Elgood, Major P.G 122
Elisabeth, Queen xv, 288f, 343f, 465
Elkab (El ICab) 183, 203, 394
Elwat el-Diban xv, 183f, 190, 192,
239, 313, 345,353, 414, 452,

469

Engelbach, Rex 228, 247, 259, 261,
278, 286, 302, 327, 338, 341, 346,
353, 363, 444, 470
English Heritage 487
Entente Cordiale 121
Esna 92, 123
Estienne, Ferdinand 116
Eton College 377
Eumorfopoulos, George 1
Eva, Terry J. xiii
Evans, Sir John 232
Everest Expedition 277, 281
Evelyn- White, Hugh G. 205

502

INDEX

Fabre, Georges 116, 474
Faiyum 15, 129, 198
Farouk, King 470
First World War, see Great War
Firth, Cecil M. 340
Fisher, Clarence S. 222
Five Years' Explorations at Thebes 163,
167, 170, 172, 184, 191,208
Flannery, Louis xiii
Fondation Egyptologique Reine
Elisabeth 289, 312, 344
Ford, Flenry 362

Foucart, Georges 225, 334, 341, 381,
392

Foulden Hall 309

foundation deposits 101, 105, 173,
201,237

Frankland, Sir Frederick 241
Fraser, G. Willoughby 15ff, 24, 26,
28, 30ff, 39, 45, 57
Freed, Rita xiii, 343
French Institute, Cairo 186, 225,
334, 341,381,392
Frere, Cholmley and Co. 347, 410,
433, 450

Freyser, Alfred W 434
Fuad I, King (Sultan) 245, 262, 266,
318, 379, 382, 416, 465
Furness, Robert A. 320, 380
Fyvie Castle 155

Gad Hassan 194ff
Galani, A. 432

Gardiner, (Sir) Alan H. xiii, 2, 60, 171,
184, 204, 230ff, 262, 288, 293, 309,
320, 328, 360, 370, 372, 382, 390,
398, 408, 41 Of, 426, 432, 442, 448,
467, 470f; works with Weigall 83,
180ff, 291; dislikes Maspero’s
regime 186; attitude to Carnarvon
206, 297f, 300; works with Carter
207ff, 215, 222; involved with
Tutankhamun 249, 266f, 272,

277ff, 331ff; objects to Lacau’s
regime 296, 337, 339ff, 385f; offers
to help with publication of tomb
443ff; breach with Carter 444
Gardiner, Margaret xiii
Garstang, John 225
Garstin, Sir William 81, 121f, 124ff,
129ff, 142, 160,286, 309
Gauthier, Henri 418, 431
Gaza 216

Gebel Abu Foda 46
Geneva xiv, 1 34

George V 267, 292, 309, 314, 354,
466

German House, Luxor 203f

Gillespie, Angela xi, 486

Giza 23, 87, 119, 123f, 129, 276, 342

Glanville, Stephen R.K. 313, 411

glass, Egyptian 41, 239, 461f

Goff, Mrs 82

Goodspeed, Edgar J. 312

Gordon, Andrew xv, 39

Gordon, Jack 226

Gothenburg 435

graffiti 30 ff, 57, 215

Grange Museum 354

Graves, Provost 372

Great Dunham 5

Great War 166, 182, 186, 196, 199,
203, 216, 219, 226, 233, 237, 318,
403, 408, 458, 462, 471
Grebaut, Eugene 28f, 32, 45, 47, 76
Greg, (Sir) Robert 1 99
Grenfell, Bernard 50
Grenfell, Lord (Sir Francis) 16, 26,
94, 232

Griffith, Colonel 144
Griffith, Francis, LI. 14f, 18f, 23, 25f,
30ff, 53ff, 77, 154, 160, 163f, 170,
172, 291,312, 342, 466
Griffith Institute xiv, 2, 14, 167, 190,
194, 205, 212, 236, 239, 262, 375,
445, 471

503

INDEX

Griffiths, Antony 6
Griggs, W 70f
Grueber, Herbert A. 48, 51
Gulbenkian, Calouste 309
Gurn, see Qurn
Gurneh, see Qurna
Gustav Adolf, prince 391, 472, 435,
462

El-Hagg Qandil 29, 42
Haggard, Sir Rider 111
Hale, George, E. 351
Hall, Elizabeth 4
Hall, Elizabeth (wife of Lindsley)
347

Hall, Henry, R.H. 394, 408, 449f
Hall, Lindsley 246f, 269, 273f, 276,
282, 284, 288, 293, 299, 345, 358,
437

Hamond, Robert 5, 74
Hankey, Vronwy xiii
Hanna, Morkos Bey 333f, 339, 346,
348ff, 366f, 373
Hansard, Miss E 1 1 5
Harbes, statue of 96
Hare nome 26, 31
Haremhab, see Horemheb
Harkness, Edward 324, 356, 372,
402, 408

Harrison, R.G. 405
Hartford, Conn. 359
Harvard University 342
Hathor 63, 68, 87
Hatnub 27, 30ff, 39, 57
Hatshepsut 61 ff, 68f, 99, 105, 193;
temple of 61 ff, 70, 167f, see also
Deir el-Bahri; tomb of 105ff, 135,
170; dromos of 173; valley temple
of 173; abandoned tomb of
213ff, 221

Hauser, Walter 269, 274, 276, 288,
299, 345, 400, 437
Hawara 28, 198f

Hawes, Mr 343
Hay, Robert 20
Hayes, William C. 277, 437
Herbert, Lady Evelyn 1, 245, 256f,
258ff, 269, 283, 286f, 292ff,

296ff, 30 7f, 314, 408, 427, 468
Herbert, Mervyn xiv, 223, 260f, 287,
290, 376, 378

Herbert, Mervyn (s. of last) xiv
Hermopolis 225
hieratic 30f, 171f, 215
Highclere Castle xiii, 158, 178f,

190, 198, 201, 206, 239f, 250,
294, 299ff, 303, 308, 376, 409,
465f

Hill, Marsha xiii
Hogarth, David G. 65, 72
Hopwood, Derek xiv
Horemheb, King 103; tomb of 154,
248; colonnade of 210ff, 215
Horniman, (Sir) Frederick 82
Horniman Museum 82
Horse, Tomb of97ff, 169
Horudja 229

‘Hounds contra jackals’ 174
Hoving, Thomas 178, 375
Howell, J. Morton 247, 282, 351, 365
Hu 189

Hulst, M. de 121
Hunt, Arthur H. 50f
Hutchinson, Sir Robert 432
Hutchinson, Sir Thomas 310
Huwebenef 175
Hyksos 171

Ibrahim, Inspector 260, 263, 346
Ightham 228, 376
Illahun 28

Illustrated Ijtndon News 6, 10, 460f
Ingram, Bruce 460f, 468f
Innermost Treasury, see Treasury
under Tutankhamun, tomb of
Insinger, J.H. 88ff

504

INDEX

Intelligence Department, Cairo 202,
215,417
Isis 327, 416

jackal 53, 287; see also Anubis
Jodrell Laboratory 442
Johnson, Dr 1 88
Johnson, Janet xiii
Joint Archaeological Committee 332,
378, 466

Jones, Cyril 172f
Jones, Harold 156f, 172
Jones Philip 389

journal of Egyptian Archaeology Q.E.A.)

113, 206f, 209, 211,215, 313
Jouveau, A. 117, 120,473f

K a .l a .bsh a. 122, 136
Kamose, King 171
Kamoula (Qamala) 79
Karnak 58, 62f, 92, 96, 108, 171
Keedick, Lee 255, 311, 352, 357,
359, 362, 369f
Keedick, Robert xv, 357, 373
Keeling Scott, Revd Frederick 5, 203
Kemen 174
Kemp, Revd H.C. 1
Keneh, see Qena
Kennedy, Jean xv, 1 1 1
Kent, Henry W 217f,230
Kenyon, Sir Frederick 271, 332, 410
Kestner Museum 88
Khaemhet 461
Khalifa Roubi, rets 116f, 121
Khashaba, Sayed 226, 234
Khawam Bros 429, 449
Khawi el-Alamat 1 95
Khety, see Akhtoy
Khnumhotpe 57
Khonsu 210

Khuenaten, see Akhenaten
King’s Messengers 202
Kingsford, Miss F. 115

Kitchener, Lord (I<) 180, 185, 198
Kom Ombo 86, 90, 92
Kozloff, Arielle xiii
Krumholz, Virginia xiii
Kulm Hotel 456, 462
Kus, see Qus

Laboratory, see Sethos II, tomb of
Labyrinth 198

Lacau, Pierre 166, 186f, 199, 201,
219ff, 246 f, 261, 265f, 270, 278ff,
286, 302, 314f, 316, 31 9f, 323ff,
327f, 330ff, 336ff, 363ff, 369,
373, 381,383f, 386, 392, 396,
399, 416, 436, 439,442, 444
Lahun Treasure 178
Lake and Sons 486
Lampson, Sir Miles 470
Landauer, Henri 41 6, 423
Landreer, Sir Edwin 6
Lansing, Ambrose 190, 227f
Larson, John xi, xiii, 111, 118, 150,
428

Lascelles, Viscount 473
Lawrence, T.E. 203
Lebanon 137

Lee, Christopher C. xv, 274, 407
Lee, Dr John 11
Le Faye, Deirdre xv, 238
Lefebvre, Gustave 113, 129, 146f,
341, 384

Legrain, Georges 170, 204, 217
Leopold, Prince 287f
Lepsius, Karl Richard 428
Lieder, Revd R.T. 11
Lilyquist, Christine xiii, 227
Lisht 156, 159, 173, 198, 246, 270,
274

Lloyd, Lord 417, 432
Loraine, Sir Percy 432
Loret, Victor 75f, 83, 101
Lorey, Eustache de 449f
Louvre Museum 392

505

INDEX

Lucas, Alfred 260ff, 268f, 274, 276,
284, 295, 300f, 322, 326, 337,
385, 395, 396, 399, 403f, 413,
416, 418, 421, 425f, 435, 438,

442 f

Lucovich family 238
Luxor 14, 62, 73, 78, 80, 83ff, 91 ff,
102, 105, 110, 112f, 123, 128,
133, 137f, 144, 148ff, 153f, 157,
160, 164, 176f, 189, 202f, 213,
215, 218, 228, 232, 235, 244, 246,
251,256, 272, 282,285, 290,
294ff, 30 If, 305, 314, 320f, 324,
327 ff, 339, 341, 344ff, 352, 358,
382, 385, 387, 396f, 413, 472f,
431,437, 453ff, 456, 465
Luxor Hotel 137, 157
Luxor Temple 92, 210ff, 215, 471,
487

Lythgoe, Albert M. 202, 205, 217,
220f, 240, 247, 267ff, 274, 286,
298, 303, 322, 324, 327, 337,
339ff, 357, 368f, 371, 374, 386,
407, 423, 428

Macarios, Chinouda 93
McClung, Millard xiii
McCormick, Mrs Rockefeller 360
Macdonald, Sir Murdock 224f
Macdonald, Ramsay 333, 379
Mace, Arthur C. xi, xii, 202, 241, 248,
253f, 269f, 274ff, 281ff, 291f,
295, 297, 299ff, 304f, 309f, 312ff,
316, 322ff, 344f, 348, 350, 276,
396, 403, 407, 412, 421 ff, 426
Mace, Margaret 291, 325f, 343, 347;
see also Orr, M.

Mace, Winifred xii, 274ff, 284, 291,
301, 325f, 336f, 344, 353, 355,
423f

MacGregor, Revd William 241 f;

collection of 241f, 296, 311
Machado, Manuel 377

Mackay, Ernest 83, 204f, 213, 327f
Madrid 305f, 377f
Magee, Diana xiv
Maherper 101
Mahmoud Bey Sidky 381
Malek, Jaromir xiv, 377
Malkata 102
Malmo 435

Manning, James xiii, 94
Mansour, Sheikh 213
Mansur, Mohammed A. 251
Mariette, Auguste 64, 70, 76, 196
Mariette’s House 114ff, 473
Marrs, Mrs Kingsmill xi, 1 62, 486
Mary, Princess Royal 417, 473
Mary, Queen 267, 309, 354
Masonic Hall, Cleveland 362
Maspero, Gaston xiv, 47f, 75ff, 80ff,
91, 95ff, 99, 101, 103, 108f, llOf,
113f, 117f, 121ff, 127ff, 134ff,
138f, 142ff, 156, 159ff, 165f,
179ff, 185ff, 191, 219f, 224, 248,
319,401,473

Massachusetts Historical Society xi,
486

mastaba 24
Matania 159
Mauretania 373

Maxwell, EM. 328, 338f, 347 ff, 366,
370

Maxwell, Sir John G. 232, 288f, 290,
300, 303, 308ff, 349f, 367f, 373,
378, 382, 390
Mecca 141

Medinet Habu 102, 108, 159, 165,
168, 181f, 387, 454
Meir 223, 226, 234ff, 251
Mekhitarian, Arpag xv, 312
Melchior, Lauritz 462
Memphis 122, 185, 222
Mena House Hotel 123, 140, 276,
299

Mendes, library of 49ff, 97

506

INDEX

Mentuhotpe II Nebhepetre 62, 99,
102, 109, 168
Merenptah 243

Merton, Arthur 265, 278, 288, 290,
320, 322ff, 337

Merzbach, Georges 366ff, 370,
380ff, 385, 408, 432
Mesopotamia 357
Metropolitan House 168, 256, 274,
285, 287, 300f, 325, 336, 346,
352, 385, 408, 425, 452, 470
Metropolitan Museum Egyptian
Expedition 67, 98, 140, 152, 159,

168. 172. 190. 198, 228, 246, 256,
268, 277, 300, 330, 341, 398, 400,
408,416

Metropolitan Museum of Art xiii, 88,

151. 156. 178. 198, 205, 217, 221,
226ff, 239ff, 259, 270f, 274, 282,
299, 308, 331, 351, 358, 364, 368,
374f, 394, 41 Of, 407ff, 411, 428,
430, 434, 442, 450, 454, 456, 470

Miles, Elizabeth xiv
Millais, Sir John E. 6
Millett, Nicholas 129
Min 193
Minya 13

Mitchell, T.C. xiv, 179
Mit Rahina 123
Mohammed Ali Club 297
Mohammed Mohassib 213, 228f,
360

Mohammed Riad Bey 346
Molony, R.H. 309, 347ff, 362, 380,
381 f, 433f
Molteni, M. 121

Mond, (Sir) Robert 83, 93, 96f, 111,
136,158,160,168, 334,392
Montreal 362, 371
Moore, Philippa xiii
Morgan Jacques de 45, 48, 53, 59, 76,
185

Morning Post 281, 321

Mowrer, P.S. 330
moulid 141

Moynihan, Sir Berkeley 243
Munthe, Axel 362, 391, 451, 454,
462

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston xiii,
343

Musees Royaux du Cinquantenaire
289

Mut 210

Nag Hamadi 79, 238
Nahas, Mustapha, Pasha 432
Nahman, Maurice 251, 429
Napoleon 85, 200
Naqada (Nagada) 79
National Art (Collections) Fund 449
Natural History Museum, New York
358

Naville, Edouard xiv, 13, 47ff, 52,
58ff, 77 f, 80ff, 98f, 105, 109, 128,
134f, 139, 143, 169, 302, 362
Nebamun 157, 159
Nebwau 240
Necropolis seal 255
Nefertari 93, 111
Nefertiti 41, 43, 223
El-Neggar, Jusuf Ahmed 94
Neguib el-Halaly 431
Neith 327, 416

Nelson, Harold H. 151, 386ff, 401f,
418, 453

Nelson, Lizzie A. 387, 453
Nephthys 327, 416
Newberry, Essie W 174, 189f, 202,
21 6f, 222, 226, 243, 383,459
Newberry, John 47, 60, 72f, 91, 159
Newberry, Percy E. xv. If, 15, 41, 44,
45, 51, 53ff, 69, 73f, 79f, 83, 91,
93, 104, 106ff, 109, 113, 133, 142,
150, 155f, 159, 168, 170f, 174,
176, 179ff, 187, 193, 198, 208,
227f, 239, 245, 263, 310, 312,

507

INDEX

327, 336f, 345, 348, 350, 375f,
409, 411, 431f, 438, 445, 448,

452, 461, 466, 469f; recruits
Carter for work in Egypt Ilf,

1 6ff, 22; works with Carter in
Egypt 23ff, 46ff, 56ff; excavates
for T. Davis 87f, 100; difference
with Carter over MacGregor sale
241 f, 296; joins controversy with
Lacau 331, 337, 340; works on
pall from tomb 383; friendship
with Carter 459f
Newbury 239

Newbury Grammar School 377

Newbury Museum 178

New Haven, see Yale

Newport, R.I. 155

New Oxford Theatre 310

New York 356ff, 363, 371 ff, 408

New York Times 281, 356

News International pic xiv

Nims, Charles E 453

Northampton, Earl of 156, 159f, 309

North Creake 463

Norwich 4, 240, 377

Norwich School of Artists 5

Norwich Union 362, 452

Nubia 92,117,122,158,199

obelisk 63, 292
Ogden, James R. 433
Opet Festival 210, 471,487
Orchestra Hall, Chicago 359
Oregon Historical Society xiii, 246
Oriental Institute, Chicago xi, xiii,
151, 229f, 242, 273, 305f, 311,
372, 387, 393, 453, 487
Orr, Margaret xii, 274, 325f; see also
Mace, M.

Oryx nome 24
Osiris 96
ostraca 211, 222
Ottawa 362, 371

Oxyrhynchus Papyri 50

Paget, Rosalind 69
Painswick 376
Pa-iu-en-Amun 189
Pa-khen-n-Amen 189
Palestine 226

papyrus 49f, 95ff, 143, 173, 208f,
230, 241, 299

Parcel Terrace Brick Library 486
Paris 144, 186, 305, 377, 449, 463
partage of antiquities 87, 178, 180,
198, 221, 224, 245ff, 267, 270,
296, 315, 328, 367, 378, 381, 447
Paterson, Emily 47, 53f, 65
pavement, painted, at El-Amarna 40
Peabody Museum 372
Peck, William H. xiii, 428, 453
Pedlar of Swaffham 4
Peet, T.E. 341, 466
Pemberton, Anne xii, 204, 343
Pemberton, Jeremy xii
Petrie, Hilda 114, 126
Petrie, (Sir) William M.F. 2, 9, 13ff,
23, 28f, 33ff, 50, 52, 58f, 62, 65,
69, 77, 79,104,114,120,136,
166, 169, 178, 198, 223, 232, 241,
263, 269, 310, 342, 361, 407, 438,
448, 466, 487
Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus 5
Ye Phare d’Alexandrie 88ff
Phelps, William Lyon 372
Philadelphia 359
Philae 92

Piccione, Peter xv, 1 83
Pier, GC. 90
Pittsburgh 359
Pius XI, Pope 446
Pius XII, Pope 446
Plenderleith, Harold xii, 403f, 442,
452, 457

Polish Centre of Mediterranean
Archaeology 68

508

INDEX

Poole, Reginald S. 53, 67
Porchester (Porch), Lord, see
Carnarvon, 5th Earl, 6th Earl
Portman Square 1 7
Prince’s Gate Court 425, 440, 456f
Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Archaeology 19, 31, 135
Psamtik (Psammetichus II) 96
Ptah 388

Ptahhotpe, Instruction of 171
Public Works, Ministry of 131 ff, 224,
265, 320, 333, 337, 381; Minister
of 324, 328, 332, 337, 339, 354,
381

Punt 63, 70

Putney Vale Cemetery 1 , 468
Puyemre 173

Qau 342

Qena 79, 261, 384, 399
Qubbet el-Hawa 94ff, 292
Queen’s Hall, 305
The Queens of Egypt 133, 157
Quibell, James E. 79, 91, 108, 112f,
125,129,147,149,160,315,
320f, 323, 339, 341,384
Qurn 326

Qurna 80, 85f, 113, 150, 153, 159,
163,186,203, 212,389
Qus 78, 79

Ramesses II 93, 168, 245; tomb of
222, 244; sculpture of 450f
Ramesses III 168; temple of 387
Ramesses IV 173, 208; tomb of 245
Ramesses VI, tomb of 222, 245, 250,
252, 254, 256

Ramesses 1X 104, 193,195
Ramesses XI, tomb of 334, 336, 363,
383

Ramesses-Mentuhirkhopshef 104
Ramesseum 80, 92, 168, 203
Reeves, Elizabeth xiv, 10

Re-Herakhty 388
Reisner, George A. 225, 342, 363
Renouf, Sir Peter Le Page 20
Report of some excavations in the Theban
Necropolis 1 57

The Residency 226, 320f, 417, 432,
440,465

Reuters 321, 323, 339
Rich Terrace 3, 6, 17, 19, 108, 239,
424

Richmond, Ernest 118, 137
Ring, Diana xiv
Ripper, Benjamin xiii, 3
rishi- coffins 174, 179, 184
Robinson, Edward 251, 269ff, 309,
330 f, 351, 359, 374, 380, 384, 408
Robinson, Sir Harry P. 278, 290
Rocca-Serra, M. 1 1 9
Rockefeller, John D. Jr. 272, 305f,
334, 387, 392, 450
Rockefeller, Mrs John D. 405, 428
Rodd, James Rennell 391, 462
Roehrig, Catherine xiii
Roger, Guthrie 48, 51 ff
Rosetti, Maitre 349
Ross, Sir Denison 442
Royal Academy 458
Royal Academy of History, Madrid
378, 465

Royal Academy Schools xv, 5, 7
Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions
xv, 6f, 11, 65

Royal Geographical Society (R.G.S.)
277

Royal Ontario Museum 150, 362
Royal Scottish Geographical Society
310

Royal Scottish Museum 440
Rugby School 377
Rushbury, Sir Henry 458
Rushbury, Julia xv, 458
Ruskin, John 6
Ryan, Donald 104

509

INDEX

St Antony’s College xiv, 260
St Moritz 456, 462
Sakha 187ff, 236
Sakhmet 217, 240, 356
Sala, Contessa della 288
Salah Enan Pasha 399
Saleh Bey Hamdi 395, 396, 399, 404,
442

Sambehdet 1 90

Sanders, Judge Williams 218

Sands, Martha J., see Carter, MJ.

San Toy, donkey 109
Saqqara (Sakkarah) 14, 24, 81, 113ff,
148, 152, 185, 223,319, 473
Savage, Anne 245
Savile Club 239, 395, 457
Savoy Hotel, Cairo 196
Sayce, Archibald H. 38, 42, 96f, 111,
136

El-Sayed Ahmed el-Bedawi 141
Sayid Fuad Bey el-Kohli 399
Es-Sayid Mohammed 115
Schiaparelli, Ernesto 93, 168
Scott, Dr Alexander 322, 327, 383,
403, 442

Scott, Gerry D. xv, 372
seal impressions 250, 255f, 272
Seamore Place 239, 243, 277, 303,
307, 376, 409

sebbakhin 93ff, 142ff, 176, 187
Selkis 327, 416
Semiramis Hotel 350
Senebtisi 269, 326, 403
Senenmut 62
Sennedjem 100
Sen-nefer 88, 93
Sensenet, Queen 73
Serapeum 115f, 473
Service des Antiquites, see Antiquities
Service

Sethos I, tomb of 89f, 101
Sethos II, tomb of, used as labora-
tory 82, 273, 282f, 288ff, 295 316,

321, 346, 383, 399, 403, 412f,
416, 418, 421, 425f, 431
Seti, see Sethos

Shabaan, Mohammed 346, 399
shabti 170, 201,252, 420,447
Sheikh Abd el-Qurna 93; see also
Qurna

Sheikh Ibada 26
El-Sheikh Said 46, 48, 52, 54
Shepheard’s Hotel 142, 298
Shore, A.F. xv, 234
Siam, Crown Prince of 1 1 1
Sidky Pasha 381
Sillem, Charles 68, 98
El-Simbillawein 52, 54
Sinai 129, 136
Siptah, King 244

A Sketch of Egyptian History 12, 150
Smith, (Sir) Grafton Elliot 271 , 306f,
313

Somaliland 357
Sothebys 218, 240f, 409
Spencer, Patricia xiv
Spiegelberg, Wilhelm 108, 156, 173,
175, 178

Spink and Son 241 f, 448, 457
Spinks, Frances, see Carter, F.

Sporle Road Cottage xiii, 7, 239, 309,
459

Stack, Sir Lee 379
Stadelmann, Rainer 204
Standard Life Assurance Co. 362,
451

Stanton Lane Brick Works 486
Statement with Documents 317, 373f,
487

Steam, WT. xv
Steele, Louis J. 461
Steindorff, Georg 199f
Stockholm 435

Storrs, (Sir) Ronald 118, 120, 137,
417

Strachan, Fiona xiv

510

INDEX

Sudan 78, 144, 204, 318, 379, 436
Sultan, horse 97f, 109
Sultana Malek 423
Sumner, William xiii
Swaffham xiii, 3f, 7ff, 73, 158, 181,
233, 239, 309, 377, 459
Swaffham Museum xiv, 462
Sweden 391, 435
Syria 137

Tano, Nicolas 229, 251
Tanta 78, 129, 131ff, 134ff, 145ff
Tappern, James 389
Tell el-Balamun 188ff
Tell el-Ruba 49
Tell Timai el-Amdid 49ff, 143
The Temple of Deir e! Tabari 66, 68, 97
Tenethat 240
Tetiky 170f
Tetton House 376
Tewfik Effendi, Inspector 436
Theban Necropolis 82, 109, 112,
153, 155ff, 168, 175, 176f, 181,
192,195,197, 205, 212f, 261,
264, 290, 312, 339, 441, 448, 462
Thebes xii, 47, 63, 74, 82ff, 91 f, 100,
107, 142, 149f, 152, 167, 180ff,
190ff, 192, 196, 198, 204, 207f,
211,213, 220, 222, 233, 235f,
249, 270, 273, 279, 291, 316, 342,
403, 408, 417, 461, 463, 471; see
also Karnak, Luxor
Thmuis 49

Thompson, (Sir) Edward Maude 65
Thothmes, see Tuthmosis
El-Till 48

The Times* iv, 1, 265, 279, 290, 310,
312, 320, 323, 328ff, 334, 344,
433, 460; agreement of, with
Lord Carnarvon 267, 277ff, 285
290, 303f, 480ff

Tiye (Tyi), Queen 179, 191, 201, 252;
supposed tomb of 1 52f, 1 54f,

177, 249, 257; tomb of, used as
dark-room 273
Tjetji, stela of 90
The Tomb ofHdtshopsttn 134
The Tomb oflouiya and Touiyou 156,
159

The Tomb ofTut.ankh.Amen 110, 191,
248f, 254, 276, 285, 301, 313,
317, 365, 395, 399, 404, 415, 422,
434, 438, 442, 444
tomb robbery 84f, 90, 112, 155, 169,
174, 184, 1 93ff, 212ff, 249, 264f,
273, 419, 446 f
The Tombs ofHarmhabi and
Touatankhamanou 248
tombs, private 24f, 82f, 168, 180
tombs, royal 82, 93, 100, 195f, 200ff,
208f, 406, 420
Toronto 363, 371
Toronto Star Weekly 371
Tottenham, Paul 265, 321 f, 324, 328,
332f

Troodos, Mount 1 44 f
Tukh el-Qaramus 142f, 320
Tuna el-Gebel 225
Turf Club 222

Turin Egyptian Museum 208
Turin plan papyrus 208f
Turner, Evan xiii

Tutankhamun 210, 249ff, 256, 41 9f,
442; mistaken burial of 248;
supposed curse of 84, 426ff;
colonnade of, in Luxor Temple
210f; embalming materials of
248f; foetuses of children of 41 8f;
spelling of name of xv, 443f;
astronomical instrument of 31 1
Tutankhamun, tomb of 1, 3, 151,
155, 182, 186, 201, 235, 247ff,
467; search for 248f; opening of
257ff, 364f, 478f; Antechamber
of 253, 259f, 263ff, 245, 299,
398, 41 2f, 416, 420; Annexe of

511

INDEX

259, 264, 41 3f, 419ff, 442; Burial
Chamber of 259f, 264, 283ff,
325ff, 334, 395, 398, 412, 416,
420, 464; Treasury of 259, 285,
287, 413ff, 418, 420, 442; Press
interest in 277 ff, 289f, 320;
improper removal of objects
from 259, 262, 411; documenta-
tion of 295; visitors to 282f,
287f, 291, 295, 320f, 391 f, 400,
405f, 41 2f, 422f; new permit for
work on 375, 381 f, 430f; pall of,
and its fate 287, 325ff, 383;
opening of shrines of 327f;
opening of sarcophagus of 332f,
394f; closure of, by Carter 337;
forced entry into 346f; govern-
ment fantasiya at 348; negotia-
tions over reopening of 347ff,
363ff, 373, 379ff; replica of, at
Wembley 354ff, 433; opening of
coffins of 394ff, 412; examina-
tion of mummy in 307, 396f,
399f, 404f, 412; mummy
replaced in 413; Canopic shrine
in 401, 416f, 41 8f; reuse of
equipment in 419; removal of
shrines from 430f, 435f, 438;
objects from, in Carter’s posses-
sion 442ff, 469ff; final publica-
tion of 439, 442ff;
documentation of 442
Tuthmosis I 73, 106f, 134, 157, 193;

tomb of 237
Tuthmosis II 106

Tuthmosis III 68, 81, 107, 179, 213,
215, 227ff, 257, 307; tomb of
244f

Tuthmosis IV 201; tomb of lOlff,
170, 193, 311
Tylor, J.J. 69

Tyssen- Amherst, see Amherst, Lord
Tytus, Robb de P. 102, 111

Umberto, Prince 422
Uppsala 435
Userhet 101
Usher Hall 310

Valentiner, William 428
Valley of the Kings 63, 82, 84, 87, 93,
lOOff, 104, 107, 149ff, 159, 167,
169f, 179, 183f, 187, 191ff, 196,
198ff, 205, 209, 214f, 219ff, 233,
237, 244, 248, 250f, 254, 261,
263, 265, 273, 279, 284, 285,

39 Iff, 300, 301, 307, 320f, 343,
353f, 363, 380, 383f, 386, 390,
395, 407, 415, 416, 420f, 436f,
446, 454

Valley of the Queens 93, 168f
Valloggia, Michel xiv
Vasteras 435

Vaughan, Thomas xiii, 247
Victoria and Albert Museum 467

Wadi Haifa 73, 203, 228, 436
Wadi Qubbanet el-Qirud 21 3f
Wadi Sikket Taqet Zaid 21 4f
Wafd 318, 379, 432
Wahba, Magdi 88, 452
Wainwright, Gerald 1, 468
Walker, Amy, see Carter, A.

Walker, Phyllis xiii, 2, 445, 452, 458,
468ff

Walker, Victor 362
Washington 359
Waterford, Marquis of 42f
Weens, Sylvie xiv
Weigall, Arthur E.P. xiii, 83, 115,
126, 138, 146f, 149, 154f, 160f,
163ff, 170ff, 179ff, 184, 186, 193,
204, 206, 279ff, 290f, 31 Iff, 339,
354f, 426

Weiss, Edna S, xv, 5
Wembley 354ff, 375
Wembley Historical Society 354

512

INDEX

Werbrouck, Marcelle 343f
Westbury, Baron 296
Westminster School 377
White, Percy 140, 254, 309, 313, 317,
356f, 370, 395f, 397, 415, 434f,
442, 458, 463
White, P.M. xv, 183
Whiting, Frederic 230, 237, 240, 243f
Whooley, Finbarr xv, 354
Wigram, Sir Clive 314
Wilbour, Charles E. 42
Wilkinson, Charles xv, 151,171, 274,
288, 326, 400, 439, 456, 463
Wilkinson, Irma xv
Williams, Caroline R. 425
Williams, Valentine 321, 323
Wilson, Ivy xiii, 459
Wilson, John 151
Wingate, Sir Reginald 237
Winlock, Barbara 400, 437
Winlock, Frances 288, 326, 353, 400
Winlock, Herbert 228, 247 ff, 251,
270, 274, 286, 327, 369, 373f,

400, 403 f, 408, 432, 449, 452;
acts as Carter’s agent 451, 363ff,
382

Winter Palace Hotel 176, 199, 206,
245, 279, 282, 285, 290, 337,
452f, 465, 487

Worcester, Mass. 359

Worcester Art Museum xi, 486

Wrench, Sir Evelyn 454

Xois, see Sakha

Yale 359, 371f, 465

Yuia and Tjuiu, tomb of 134, 136,
154ff, 191

Zaghlul, Mohammed, Pasha 333f,
336f

Zaghlul, Saad, Pasha 237, 318, 348,
350, 363, 379ff

Ziwar Pasha 341, 379f, 391, 416f,
432

Zouche, Baroness 241

513

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